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WASHINGTON, DC -- By a strong bipartisan vote of 365-48, the House voted today to improve and reauthorize the Head Start early childhood development and education program.
"Head Start has served our nation's poorest children extremely well in the past four decades. This bill will help more children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed by improving program quality and expanding access to more children," said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "The legislation builds on the program's past successes and integrates today's best science on childhood development in order to provide Head Start children with a better future."
The Improving Head Start Act of 2007, introduced by U.S. Reps. Dale Kildee (D-MI), Mike Castle (R-DE) and Miller, helps more children arrive at school ready to succeed by: improving Head Start's teacher and classroom quality; expanding access to the program; increasing coordination between Head Start and state and local early childhood services; and strengthening Head Start's accountability.
"Head Start provides more than just a good education. It provides comprehensive early childhood development and gives children the opportunity to live a better life," Kildee said. "Now that the House has passed this bill, we are one step closer to providing children and their families a better Head Start by improving teacher qualifications, expanding access and strengthening program accountability."
Republicans offered an amendment today that would have begun the process of dismantling Head Start by turning it over to the states through block grants, eliminating Head Start standards of program quality and accountability. They also offered a motion to permit Head Start grantees to use federal dollars to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of their religion. The House rejected both the amendment and the motion, which were misguided, ideological efforts to inject partisanship into an otherwise bipartisan effort.
Republicans offered an amendment today that would have begun the process of dismantling Head Start by turning it over to the states through block grants, eliminating Head Start standards of program quality and accountability. They also offered a motion to permit Head Start grantees to use federal dollars to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of their religion. The House rejected both the amendment and the motion, which were misguided, ideological efforts to inject partisanship into an otherwise bipartisan effort.Republicans offered an amendment today that would have begun the process of dismantling Head Start by turning it over to the states through block grants, eliminating Head Start standards of program quality and accountability. They also offered a motion to permit Head Start grantees to use federal dollars to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of their religion. The House rejected both the amendment and the motion, which were misguided, ideological efforts to inject partisanship into an otherwise bipartisan effort.
The Improving Head Start Act of 2007:
- Improves classroom and teacher quality - Increases teacher qualifications and directs the majority of new funds for program improvement activities, including significant new funds to increase teacher salaries.
- Expands access - Authorizes $450 million in new funding for fiscal year 2008 which would provide up to 10,000 more children access to the program, prioritizing expansion of the Early Head Start program and expanding services to additional Migrant and Seasonal Head Start and Indian Head Start programs.
- Strengthens the focus on school readiness - Ensures all programs use research-based practices to support the growth of children's pre-literacy and vocabulary skills and improves professional development and classroom practices to better support children's cognitive, social, and emotional development.
- Ends inappropriate testing of 4-year olds - Prohibits further use of the National Reporting System, a badly flawed testing system developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that was denounced by child development experts and that drained money and time from Head Start classrooms.
- Promotes stronger accountability - Increases the fiscal controls used by Head Start at the Federal and local levels to better ensure Head Start funds are used appropriately and efficiently and requires underperforming programs to recompete for their grants to ensure that underperforming programs are either replaced or quickly improved.
- Ensures parental participation in program governance - Maintains the existing shared governance structure between parent policy councils and governing boards to help empower Head Start parents and allow programs to be responsive to local needs.
- Fortifies comprehensive services - Places greater emphasis on early identification of child and family mental health needs and requires Head Start to decrease childhood obesity in its students.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Kiley / Rachel Racusen
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-226-0853 |
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