[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 74 (Monday, May 7, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E967]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IMPROVING HEAD START ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. SILVESTRE REYES

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 2, 2007

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1429) to 
     reauthorize the Head Start Act, to improve program quality, 
     to expand access, and for other purposes:

  Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1492, the 
Improving Head Start Act of 2007, a bill introduced by my colleague Mr. 
Dale Kildee that provides a long-overdue re-authorization of Head Start 
and includes a package of improvements that will make a good program 
better.
  My own experience as a child demonstrates the importance of school 
preparedness programs like Head Start. When I started school at six 
years old, I only spoke Spanish. The teacher only spoke English, so the 
other Spanish-speaking children and I were bumped down to a new ``pre-
kinder'' class so, as the thinking went, we would not hold the others 
back. Throughout my years in school, my peers assumed that I had failed 
a grade because I was older than everyone else. But I was not less 
academically capable than my fellow students. I had just not been given 
adequate preparation.
  Head Start offers a bilingual curriculum that helps develop children 
linguistically, socially, and emotionally for kindergarten. Its 
holistic approach makes it so much more than just a program to improve 
reading and writing skills. It also provides nutritious meals, medical 
and dental visits, and a stable environment to low-income children that 
will allow them to succeed in school.
  Head Start is a proven program. Students who participate in this 
program are more likely to finish high school and eventually attend 
college. In El Paso, over 4000 children and their families are served 
by this program. Roughly seventy-five percent of all students in this 
program come from households making less than $15,000 per year, well 
below the national poverty level.
  Mr. Chairman, I ask that my colleagues join me in supporting this 
important legislation that will help disadvantaged children across the 
Nation by providing them with the tools they will need to succeed not 
only in their education, but in all aspects of their lives.

                          ____________________