[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19895]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      SCHOOL READINESS ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. JERRY F. COSTELLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 24, 2003

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2210) to 
     authorize readiness of disadvantaged children, and for other 
     purposes.

  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 2210 
the School Readiness Act. This is a bad bill that will bring 
significant changes to one of our nation's greatest success stories: 
the Head Start program.
  The Head Start program was established in 1965 as part of the War on 
Poverty. The program was created to give low-income youth an 
opportunity to receive quality preschool education, so that they would 
not enter kindergarten at a disadvantage. In addition to preschool 
classes, Head Start also emphasizes medical, dental, and mental health; 
nutrition; and parent involvement.
  Since its inception, the program has grown and undergone some 
modifications, but has remained a federal program, with federal 
standards, and with funds provided to the local Head Start programs.
  This bill proposes to change that. It will end Head Start as we know 
it by weakening educational standards and threatening to dismantle the 
effective and high-quality Head Start program that has helped more than 
20 million children and their families.
  While the bill would make quality improvements to Head Start that I 
support, virtually all of these improvements, as well as the existing 
quality requirements, would be undone by turning Head Start over to the 
States in the form of a block grant.
  Under the block grant, states are not required to follow the Head 
Start performance standards. I fear that this will weaken educational 
standards, by increasing class size, increasing child-teacher ratio, 
shortening program duration, cutting off three-year-olds from services, 
and using unproven curricula. In addition, there is no guarantee that 
the pilot programs will maintain the comprehensive services, including 
elimination of parent classroom involvement, health and mental health 
screenings and services, adult literacy services, vision and dental 
services, and health and nutrition education, that have made Head Start 
so successful.
  Mr. Chairman, I support Head Start, but I cannot support this bill. 
It takes a giant step backwards in providing vital services to our 
Nation's most precious assets, our children. I urge my colleagues to 
join me in voting no on this bill.

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