[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1201 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1201

To amend the Head Start Act to ensure that every child who is eligible 
 to participate in a program under such Act has the tools to learn to 
                                 read.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 2001

  Mr. Schiff (for himself, Mr. Platts, Mr. Dooley of California, Mr. 
Moran of Virginia, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Clement, Mr. Etheridge, 
  Mr. Lantos, Mr. Frost, Mr. Waxman, Ms. Sanchez, and Mr. Maloney of 
 Connecticut) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Head Start Act to ensure that every child who is eligible 
 to participate in a program under such Act has the tools to learn to 
                                 read.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reading Readiness Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. READING READINESS REPORT AND EVALUATION OF CURRENT BEST READING 
              READINESS PRACTICES.

    Section 649(d) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9844(d)) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (9) as 
                paragraphs (3) through (10), respectively, and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) determine whether every Head Start program is 
        providing to children who participate in such program the tools 
        necessary to succeed in school, including reading readiness, 
        and to review current best practices of Head Start programs 
        with respect to reading readiness;'', and
            (2) in the matter following paragraph (10), as so 
        redesignated, by striking ``paragraph (9)'' and inserting 
        ``paragraph (10)''.

SEC. 3. REQUIRING READING READINESS IN ALL HEAD START PROGRAMS.

    The Head Start Act (42 U.S.C 9831 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 636 by inserting ``(including a strong focus 
        on reading readiness)'' after ``other services'', and
            (2) in section 638 by inserting ``(including a strong focus 
        on reading readiness)'' after ``other services''.

SEC. 4. INCENTIVE FOR HEAD START PROGRAMS TO ADOPT CURRENT BEST 
              PRACTICES IN READING READINESS ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Financial Assistance.--Section 638 of the Head Start Act (42 
U.S.C. 9833) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' after ``Sec.'', and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) From the portion specified in section 639(b)(4), the 
Secretary shall award grants under this subsection on a competitive 
basis to applicants selected by the Secretary to carry out current best 
practices in reading readiness activities.''.
    (b) Priority Use of Allotted Funds.--Section 640(a)(2)(C) of the 
Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9835(a)(2)(C)) is amended in the matter 
preceding clause (i) by inserting ``reading readiness and'' after 
``carry out''.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS ON MAKING HEAD START SEAMLESS.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Recent early brain research has yielded evidence of the 
        need to help children in the earliest years of life in order to 
        ensure their success in school and in life.
            (2) The Early Head Start pilot program begun in 1994 has 
        proven the value of intervention with younger children and 
        their families.
            (3) Head Start programs have shown an increasing interest 
        to expand the scope of their preschool programs to include 
        infants, toddlers, and their families, and there is nothing in 
        the Head Start Act that precludes the Secretary of Health and 
        Human Services from approving the use of preschool Head Start 
        funds to enroll children less than 3 years of age.
    (b) Sense of the Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services should immediately take such 
steps as may be necessary to allow Head Start grantees that find 
evidence of community need, to modify the use of their current grants 
so as to enroll infants and toddlers in Head Start programs without 
obtaining a separate Early Head Start grant.

SEC. 6. NATIONAL HEAD START ENROLLMENT CAMPAIGN.

    The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall implement an 
outreach campaign to promote enrollment in Head Start programs and 
Early Head Start programs and shall include in such campaign--
            (1) forceful messages that convey the fact that 
        participating in such programs increases the ability of 
        children to learn to read, and
            (2) outreach activities in hospitals, clinics, Federal food 
        assistance programs, child care referral agencies, and other 
        programs that serve the health needs of children and pregnant 
        women.

SEC. 7. INCREASED ELIGIBILITY THRESHOLD.

    Section 645(a)(1)(B)(i) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 
9840(a)(1)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(i) programs demonstrating by community 
                assessment that all reasonable attempt has been made to 
                enroll children whose families' incomes are below the 
                poverty line may make eligible for participation in the 
                program children whose families' incomes are no greater 
                than 150 percent of the poverty line; and''.

SEC. 8. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS REGARDING FULL FUNDING OF THE HEAD START 
              ACT.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the Congress should 
appropriate sufficient funds to carry out the Head Start Act so that 
all children who are eligible to participate in programs under such Act 
(including children who are on waiting lists to participate in such 
programs) may participate in such programs.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 639 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9834) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a) by striking ``such sums'' and all 
        that follows through ``2003'', and inserting ``$9,200,000,000 
        for fiscal year 2002, and $11,200,000,000 for fiscal year 
        2003'', and
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2) by striking ``and'' at the 
                end,
                    (B) in paragraph (3) by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting ``; and'', and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) not more than $1,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal 
        years 2002 and 2003 to provide additional funds for expansion 
        of existing Head Start programs or for new grantees who are 
        using current best practices in reading readiness activities 
        identified under section 649(d)(2).''.
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