[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 26 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1861-S1863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. 
        Alexander):
  S. 556. A bill to reauthorize the Head Start Act, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is a privilege to join Senators Enzi, 
Dodd, and Alexander in introducing the Head Start for School Readiness 
Act. Our goal is to reauthorize Head Start and continue our bipartisan 
support for this very successful program to prepare low-income children 
for school.
  For over forty years, Head Start has given disadvantaged children the 
assistance they need to arrive at school ready to learn. It's 
comprehensive services guarantee balanced meals for children, and a 
well-defined curriculum to see that children develop early skills in 
reading, writing, and math, and positive social skills as well. It 
provides visits to doctors and dentists, and outreach to parents to 
encourage them to participate actively in their child's early 
development.
  It is clear that Head Start works. A federal evaluation found that 
Head Start children make gains during the program itself, and the gains 
continue when the children enter kindergarten. Once Head Start children 
complete their kindergarten year, they are near the national average of 
100 in key areas, with scores of 93 in vocabulary, 96 in early writing, 
and 92 in early math.
  We've made tremendous, bipartisan progress this year in our effort to 
reauthorize Head Start and build upon a program that serves as a 
lifeline for the neediest families and children across the Nation.
  In this legislation, we build on Head Start's proven track record and 
expand it to include thousands of low-income children who are not yet 
served by the program. We provide for better coordination of Head Start 
with state programs for low-income children. We strengthen Head Start's 
focus on school readiness and early literacy. We enhance the 
educational goals for Head Start teachers. And we provide greater 
accountability for the program, including new policies to ensure 
improved monitoring visits and new policies to address programs with 
serious deficiencies.
  To strengthen Head Start, we have to begin by providing more 
resources for it. The need for Head Start is greater than ever. Child 
poverty is on the rise again. Today, less than 50 percent of children 
eligible for Head Start participate in the program. Hundreds of 
thousands of three- and four-year-olds are left out because of the 
inadequate funding level of the program. Early Head Start serves only 3 
percent of eligible infants and toddlers. It is shameful that 97 
percent of the children eligible for Early Head Start have no access to 
it. It's long past time for Congress to expand access to Head Start to 
serve as many infants, toddlers, and preschool children as possible.
  The bill that we introduce today will set a goal to expand Head Start 
over the next several years. We call for increases in funding, from 
$6.9 billion in the current fiscal year, to $7.3 billion in FY 2008, 
$7.5 billion in FY 2009, and $7.9 billion in 2010. These funding levels 
are critical to advance the essential reforms in this legislation, and 
to serve thousands of additional children in the Head Start program.
  Early Head Start is an especially important program for needy infants 
and toddlers. Research clearly shows its benefit to infants and 
toddlers and their families. Early Head Start children have larger 
vocabularies, lower levels of aggressive behavior, and higher levels of 
sustained attention than children not enrolled in the program. Parents 
are more likely to play with their children and read to them.
  This bill will double the size of Early Head Start over the course of 
this authorization, and deliver services to over 56,000 additional 
children over the course of this authorization.
  Our bill establishes a Head Start Collaboration Office in every state 
to maximize services to Head Start children, align Head Start with 
kindergarten classrooms, and strengthen its local partnerships with 
other agencies. These offices will work hand in hand with the Head 
Start network of training and technical assistance to support Head 
Start grantees in better meeting the goals of preparing children for 
school.

  States will also have an active role in coordinating their system of 
early childhood programs, and increasing the quality of those programs. 
Our bill designates an Early Care and Education Council in each State 
to conduct an inventory of children's needs, develop plans for data 
collection and for supporting early childhood educators, review and 
upgrade early learning standards, and make recommendations on technical 
assistance and training. For those States ready to move forward and 
implement their statewide plan, our bill will offer a one-time 
incentive grant to implement these important efforts.
  Over the past four decades, Head Start has built up quality and 
performance standards to guarantee a full range of services, so that 
children are educated in the basics about letters and numbers and 
books, and are also healthy, well-fed, and supported in stable and 
nurturing relationships. Head Start is a model program, and we can 
enhance its quality even more.

[[Page S1862]]

  One way to do that is to strengthen Head Start's current literacy 
initiative. We know the key to later reading success is to get young 
children excited about letters and books and numbers. Our bill 
emphasizes language and literacy, by enhancing the literacy training 
required of Head Start teachers, by continuing to promote parent 
literacy, and by working to put more books into Head Start classrooms 
and into children's homes.
  We also make a commitment in this bill to upgrade all of the 
educational components of Head Start, and ensure that services are 
aligned with expectations for children's kindergarten year and continue 
to be driven by the effective Head Start Child Outcomes Framework.
  At the heart of Head Start's success are its teachers and staff. They 
are caring, committed persons who know the children they serve and are 
dedicated to improving their lives. They help children learn to 
identify letters of the alphabet and arrange the pieces of puzzles. 
They teach them to brush their teeth, wash their hands, make friends 
and follow rules. Yet their salary is still half the salary of 
kindergarten teachers, and turnover is high--11 percent a year.
  Because a teacher's quality is directly related to a child's outcome, 
our bill establishes a goal to ensue that every Head Start teacher have 
their A.A. degree and 50 percent earn their B.A. degree over the course 
of this authorization. Head Start teachers and staff are the greatest 
resource to children and families in the program, and we must match 
these ambitious reforms and improvements with the funding needed to see 
that Head Start programs can meet these goals.
  We have also granted additional flexibility in this bill for Head 
Start programs to serve families and children that need services at the 
local level. We've lifted the eligibility requirements so that families 
living below 130 percent of the federal poverty rate can qualify and 
participate in Head Start. Often, these are the neighbors of Head Start 
children with similar needs, but currently remain barred from 
participating in the program.
  Under this bill, Head Start programs will be empowered with greater 
authority to determine the needs of families in their local communities 
and define services to meet those needs. If programs determine that 
there is a greater share infants and toddlers in need of services, our 
bill allows them to apply to the Secretary to convert and expand Head 
Start to serve those youngest children, consistent with Early Head 
Start standards. If programs identify a need to provide full-day or 
full-year care for children and families, they can take steps to do so.
  Accountability is a cornerstone of excellence in education and should 
start early. Head Start should be accountable for its promise to 
provide safe and healthy learning environments, to support each child's 
individual pattern of development and learning, to cement community 
partnerships in services for children, and to involve parents in their 
child's growth.
  Head Start reviews are already among the most extensive in the field. 
Every 3 years, a federal and local team spends a week thoroughly 
examining every aspect of every Head Start program. They check 
everything from batteries in flashlights to how parents feel about the 
program. Our bill takes a further step to improve the monitoring of 
Head Start programs, ensures that programs receive useful and timely 
feedback and information, and strengthens annual reviews and plans for 
improvement.
  Our bill also takes an important step to suspend the Head Start 
National Reporting System. Four years ago, I insisted that instead of 
rushing forward with a national assessment for every four- and five-
year-old in Head Start, this Administration should instead move more 
deliberately to develop and implement an assessment tool that would 
help guide and improve Head Start programs. Unfortunately, they 
rejected that call and proceeded with an assessment--absent sufficient 
authorization or oversight from Congress--that was later proven by a 
GAO study to be flawed and inconsistent with professional standards for 
testing and measurement.
  Any assessment used in Head Start must be held to the highest 
standard. It must be valid and reliable, fair to children from all 
backgrounds, balanced in what it measures, and address the development 
of the whole child. Our bill calls on the National Academy of Sciences 
to continue their work in surveying assessments and outcomes 
appropriate for early childhood programs, and to make recommendations 
to the Secretary and to Congress on the use of assessments and outcomes 
in Head Start programs. I hope the National Academy's work will be 
helpful as we consider future improvements in the Head Start program.
  Finally, this bill appropriately rejects earlier calls to block grant 
Head Start services, preserving the community-based structure of the 
program. It makes no sense to turn Head Start into a block grant to the 
states. To do so would have dismantled the program and undermined Head 
Start's guarantees that children can see doctors and dentists, eat 
nutritious meals, and learn early academic and social skills. The 
current Federal-to-local structure of Head Start enables it to tailor 
its services to meet local community needs. Performance standards 
guarantee a high level of quality across all programs. Yet each program 
is unique and specifically adapted to the local community. Head Start 
is successful in serving Inuit children in Alaska, migrant-workers' 
children in Tennessee, and inner-city children in Boston. It is 
essential to maintain the ability of local Head Start programs to 
tailor their services to meet the needs of local neighborhoods and 
their children.
  The Head Start for School Readiness Act we are introducing today will 
keep Head Start on its successful path, and enable this vital program 
to continue to thrive and improve. I urge our colleagues on both sides 
of the aisle to join us in advancing and strengthening this program, 
and give children the head start they need and deserve to prepare for 
school and for life.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues in introducing 
the Head Start for School Readiness Act.
  Head Start programs are critical to ensuring that all children, 
regardless of their background, enter school ready to learn and 
succeed. I want to thank Senator Kennedy and his staff for his ongoing 
commitment to our bipartisan approach, which has resulted in a bill 
that meets the needs of children and families who participate in the 
Head Start program throughout our Nation. I would also like to thank 
our colleagues Senators Alexander and Dodd and their staff for their 
fine work as well.
  This legislation would reauthorize the Head Start program and help 
ensure that children in this important program will be better prepared 
to enter school with the skills to succeed. Success in life depends a 
great deal on the preparation for that success, which comes early in 
life. It is well documented in early childhood education research that 
students who are not reading well by the third grade will struggle with 
reading most of their lives. Head Start provides early education for 
over 900,000 children each year, most of whom would not have the 
opportunity to attend preschool programs elsewhere. It is because of 
these 900,000 children we have all worked so hard to improve and 
strengthen this Act.
  I am particularly pleased with the accountability provisions we put 
forth in this legislation. The legislation we introduce today limits 
the timeframe for Head Start grantees to appeal decisions made by the 
Secretary to terminate grants. In some instances, Head Start grantees 
have been found to be operating programs that are unsafe or misusing 
Federal funds--and are often continuing those bad practices for months, 
as long as 600 days in some cases--during the termination process. This 
equates to children not receiving quality services, and instead of 
being prepared for success, they fall further behind.
  Additional steps have been taken in this legislation to increase the 
quality of the Head Start program including providing the Secretary the 
authority to terminate a grantee that has multiple and recurring 
deficiencies that has not made significant and substantial progress 
toward correcting those deficiencies.
  We recognize that a vast majority of the Head Start agencies provide 
high quality, comprehensive services for

[[Page S1863]]

children in the Head Start programs. However, the provisions in this 
bill will create an important incentive for programs to operate at 
their best, and in the best interest of the children they serve.
  Senator Dodd has provided valuable leadership as we worked to develop 
a clear policy on the roles and responsibilities of the governing body 
and policy councils. We have worked together to clarify and strengthen 
the roles of the governing body and policy councils. After careful 
review, the Committee found that many of the important fiscal and legal 
responsibilities of Head Start grantees were not explicitly assigned. 
The bill clarifies those responsibilities leading to more consistent, 
high quality fiscal and legal management, which will ensure these 
programs are serving children in the best possible way.
  I want to particularly note emphasis we have placed on the role of 
parents in Head Start programs. It is vital to remember that this 
program provides services to children and their families. Parents 
provide valuable insight and experience as to what a Head Start program 
should do for children.
  Senators Alexander, Kennedy, and Dodd have worked tirelessly on this 
legislation and championed increasing coordination, collaboration, and 
excellence in early childhood education and care programs. I wish to 
thank my colleagues on the Committee, particularly Senators Kennedy, 
Alexander, and Dodd, for their work in drafting this bipartisan 
legislation to reauthorize the Head Start Act. I believe the 
legislation we are introducing today will improve the quality and 
effectiveness of the Head Start program for generations of children to 
come. It is my hope that our bipartisan efforts will continue to 
produce results as we move the bill through the Senate and into 
Conference.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues, Senator 
Kennedy, Senator Enzi, and Senator Alexander in introducing the Head 
Start for School Readiness Act. I am pleased that we are beginning the 
process of reauthorizing this important legislation early in the 110th 
Congress.
  Since 1965, Head Start has provided comprehensive early childhood 
development services to low-income children. The evidence is clear: 
Head Start works for the more than 900,000 children enrolled in centers 
throughout the country. As we reauthorize this bill, we have the 
opportunity to refine and improve the program to make it work even 
better.
  This reauthorization bill maintains the important characteristics of 
Head Start that have made it such an important program, aiding in the 
social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of low-income 
preschool children. The program is successful because each center 
addresses the needs of the local community. It is more than just a 
school readiness program; it addresses the comprehensive needs of 
children and their families by providing health and other services to 
the enrolled children. Families play the most important role in 
ensuring the success of their children, and our bill maintains an 
integral role for parents in the decision-making and day to day 
operations of the program. Parent involvement is a centerpiece of Head 
Start and I believe this bill strengthens that component.
  This reauthorization bill expands eligibility, improves 
accountability by clarifying program governance, strengthens school 
readiness for children and enhances teacher quality. In addition, 
collaboration and coordination with other early childhood development 
programs and outreach to underserved populations is greatly improved.
  The bill we're introducing enables more low-income children to get a 
head start by allowing programs to serve families with incomes up to 
130 percent of the poverty level, while ensuring that the most 
vulnerable families below the poverty level are served first. This is 
important for Connecticut and other States where the cost of living is 
especially high and many working poor families aren't able to access 
services because they earn just above the poverty level. In addition, 
the bill expands access to services for infants and toddlers in Early 
Head Start by increasing the set-aside from 10 percent to 20 percent 
over the next 5 years. Programs are also provided more discretion to 
serve eligible individuals based on the needs of the each community.
  Although we do not go as far as I would personally like to see in 
funding for Head Start, we do authorize additional resources in this 
bill. Despite the tight budget situation, we authorize an increase of 
six percent from $6.9 billion to $7.35 billion in Fiscal Year 2008, to 
$7.65 billion in Fiscal Year 2009 and to $7.995 billion in Fiscal Year 
2009. I continue to be gravely concerned about the lack of resources 
for Head Start--funding levels have been essentially flat since 2002. 
Currently, only half of eligible children are served in Head Start and 
fewer than 5 percent are served in Early Head Start.
  Across the country, Head Start providers are reporting rising costs 
in transportation, some more than 15 percent due to fuel prices. Other 
budget concerns include higher unemployment and health care premiums, 
facilities maintenance and training for staff. Rising operating costs 
are coinciding with State, local and private funding partners cutting 
back their contributions to local Head Start programs. This terrible 
budget crunch has caused providers to make deep cuts in already tight 
budgets, as they try desperately to not remove children from their 
enrollments. I understand the challenges facing the Federal budget and 
look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the budget and 
appropriations committees to increase vital resources for Head Start.
  Research shows that child outcomes are directly related to the 
quality of the teachers and professionals who work with them on a daily 
basis. I am pleased that we establish goals in this Head Start bill for 
improving educational standards for Head Start teachers, curriculum 
specialists and teacher assistants. Understanding that dedicated Head 
Start teachers and staff work hard for relatively low wages, there will 
not be penalties associated with programs not meeting the goal we have 
established. I would hope that we could offer funding to help teachers 
meet these goals, but that is not possible at this juncture. I will 
continue to work toward increased funding to assist teachers in 
pursuing additional educational goals.
  When Head Start began more than 40 years ago, it was the only 
preschool program available for low-income children; now there are many 
approaches. Collaboration and coordination with other early childhood 
programs is also an essential piece of this Head Start bill, reducing 
duplication and encouraging opportunities for shared information and 
resources.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues as we move this bill 
through the Senate.
                                 ______