By Joseph Bustos, Nov 29, 2007 -

U.S. Rep. Phil Hare watched as the kids in Lisa Stockdale's Head Start class did a little warm-up dance, stomping on the floor, waving their arms up and down like monkeys and sliding from side to side, before they started the day's activities.

Hare wants to make the half-day classes, designed to give preschoolers a head start on kindergarten, more accessible and available in rural areas. He was visiting the class at Sterling-Rock Falls Child Care Wednesday to discuss his amendments to the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007.

The bill will allocate money for Head Start, a free, federally funded program for children of low-income families, through 2012. It has passed both houses of Congress and now awaits President Bush's signature.

Hare's amendments call for more money to transport kids to Head Start centers, to attract and retain teachers and to reach qualifying families.

Hare, D-Rock Island, isn't sure how much money will be allocated for those items, or how much might come to his rural district. "It's not going to cost a whole lot, but we want to have enough to make sure it works," Hare said.

Locally, 761 students in Dixon, Polo, Morrison, Sterling, Rochelle and Oregon attend Head Start through the Tri-County Opportunities Council. Almost 98 percent are bused to their centers.

Tri-County's buses were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and there is no money to buy new ones, so it would benefit from any transportation money the bill might bring, said Jill Calkins, the agency's special options manager.

Head Start also has a waiting list of more than 100 kids, but Tri-County can't afford to add any new classrooms or pay any more teachers, said Kim Larson, its program operations manager.

Hare's amendments also call for more money to bring teachers to rural communities and keep them from leaving for lucrative urban areas. "These kids need as much help as kids in downtown Chicago and I want to see us do both," he said. "Last thing we would want to do is not be able to have young kids in rural areas be able to go to a Head Start program because you don't have the teachers or can't get them to the facility."