Reorganizing Head Start will hurt nation's poor children

By Akilah Monifa
July 22, 2003
The nation's Head Start program, which is up for a vote in the House of Representatives, should be left alone.
It was started in 1965, and the idea was to give low-income kids between ages 3 and 5 a "head start" before beginning kindergarten. Since then, Head Start has helped more than 20 million underprivileged children, and it currently has another 1 million children in the program.
Head Start is up for reauthorization this year, and the House is scheduled to vote soon on the School Readiness Act, which would establish a pilot program in eight states, giving them oversight of the program's funding and standards.
It would move Head Start from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Education, which would shift it away from a comprehensive social services program and toward one that emphasizes academics.
The bill, according to its sponsors and the Bush administration, will strengthen Head Start by increasing its focus on literacy and school readiness.
But there are two major problems that could occur.
First, the Head Start program, under Health and Human Services, properly emphasizes comprehensive child development. The early years of a child's life are the most crucial ones, and kids need more than just rudimentary academics. They also need nutritious meals, dental and medical care, social skills, and parental involvement -- all of which Head Start provides. Once these social supports are in place, academic success is more likely.
Second, by giving more power to the states to run the program, the bill would set up Head Start for failure. Most states are in fiscal crisis and would have a strong incentive to divert funds from the program.
What's more, the bill would require half of all the teachers in the program to have bachelor's degrees by 2008, but it does not allocate money for the higher salaries that the advanced degrees will require, so it might make the states' budget headaches even more painful.
This should not be a partisan issue. If we care about children and education, we should commit ourselves to continuing the successful Head Start program -- not toying with it or dismantling it.
Akilah Monifa is a free-lance writer living in Oakland, Calif. She can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.