[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10942-10943]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE HEAD START REAUTHORIZATION BILL

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I cosponsor 1107, the Head Start 
Improvements for School Readiness Act, a bill to reauthorize Head 
Start. I join my colleagues Senators Enzi, Kennedy, and Dodd in support 
of this legislation.
  I would like to see Head Start expanded and serve more children but 
first we must ensure that this program is accountable, financially 
solvent, and meeting the purpose for which it was intended.
  This bill strengthens the Head Start program, making four key 
improvements by:
  No. 1, establishing 200 Centers of Excellence that would serve as 
model Head Start programs across the country;
  No. 2, providing that grantees shall re-compete to receive grants 
every 5 years to help ensure a constant, high level of quality;
  No. 3, clearly defining ``deficiency'' so that local Head Start 
providers know the standards by which they will be held accountable; 
and
  No. 4, providing clear authority to the governing boards to 
administer--and be held accountable for--local Head Start programs 
while ensuring policy councils, on which parents sit, continue to play 
an important advisory role.
  Head Start has been one of our country's most successful and popular 
social programs. That is because it is based upon the principle of 
equal opportunity, which is at the core of the American character. 
Americans uniquely believe that each of us has the right to begin at 
the same starting line and that, if we do, anything is possible for 
anyone one of us.
  We also understand that some of us need help getting to that starting 
line. Most Federal funding for social programs is based upon this 
understanding of equal opportunity. Head Start began in 1965 to make it 
more likely that disadvantaged children would successfully arrive at 
one of the most important of our starting lines: the beginning of 
school.
  Head Start over the years has served hundreds of thousands of our 
most at-risk children. The program has grown and changed. It has been 
subjected to debates and studies touting its successes and decrying its 
deficiencies. But Head Start has stood the test of time because it is 
so very important.
  We have made great progress in what we know about the early growth 
and development of young children since Head Start began in 1965. At 
that time very few professionals had studied early childhood education. 
Even fewer had designed programs specifically for children in poverty 
with their many challenges.
  The origins of Head Start come from an understanding that success for 
these children was not only about education. The program was designed 
to be certain these children were healthy, got their immunizations, 
were fed hot meals, and--of crucial importance--that their parents were 
deeply involved in the program.
  From the beginning comprehensive services and parent and community 
involvement were essential parts of good Head Start programs. And that 
is still true today. In the early days, teacher training and curriculum 
were seen as less important. But we now know a great deal more about 
brain development and how children learn from birth.
  Today young children are expected to learn more and be able to do 
more in order to succeed in school. Public schools offer kindergarten 
in response to these changes. And 40 States now offer early childhood 
programs.

[[Page 10943]]

  As we reauthorize the Head Start program, it is important to 
recognize its importance and commit to making it stronger. But we must 
also recognize that the program is not fulfilling its promise. Head 
Start is not meeting its purpose of serving our children who are most 
at risk when dollars are being squandered by those people who have been 
charged with providing this service. Current practices do not meet my 
personal standard for managing and running a program.
  This bill attempts to address this issue by holding up successful 
local programs so that others may follow their example and by 
clarifying lines of accountability so that any corrupt practices may be 
rooted out. The bill would create a way for States to help strengthen 
and coordinate Head Start, but would continue to send Federal funds 
directly to nearly 1,700 grantees that provide services in over 29,000 
Head Start centers that serve just over 900,000 disadvantaged children.
  First, the bill authorizes the Secretary of HHS to create a 
nationwide network of 200 Centers of Excellence in Early Childhood 
built around exemplary Head Start programs. These Centers of Excellence 
would be nominated by governors. Each Center of Excellence would 
receive a Federal bonus grant of at least $200,000 in each of 5 years, 
in addition to its base funding.
  The Centers of Excellence bonus grants will be used for centers:
  No. 1, to work in their community to model the best of what Head 
Start can do for at-risk children and families, including getting those 
children ready for school and ready for academic success;
  No. 2, to coordinate all early childhood services in their community;
  No. 3, to offer training and support to all professionals working 
with at-risk children;
  No. 4, to track these families and ensure seamless continuity of 
services from prenatal to age 8;
  No. 5, to become models of excellence by all performance measures and 
be willing to be held accountable for good outcomes for our most 
disadvantaged children; and
  No. 6. to have the flexibility to serve additional Head Start or 
Early Head Start children or provide more full-day services to better 
meet the needs of working parents.
  While Head Start centers are uneven in performance, they have 
generally excelled in two areas critical to success in caring for and 
educating children--developing community support and encouraging 
parental involvement. Alex Haley, the author of Roots, lived by these 
six words, ``Find the good and praise it.'' For me that was an 
invaluable lesson. That's what I hope these centers will do.
  In addition to providing for the establishment of Centers of 
Excellence to highlight and encourage better practices among local Head 
Start programs, the bill establishes three new methods for ensuring 
accountability in the management and running of the programs.
  First, it provides that grantees shall re-compete for grants every 5 
years. This ensures that, after 5 years, their program is still meeting 
its standards. I recognize that consistency is very important for the 
Head Start programs, especially for the children served by these 
grants. Many Head Start grantees are doing a very good job 
administering their grants, and I hope this reapplication process will 
highlight their success. To help streamline the process for successful 
programs, grantees that have not been found deficient nor to have had 
an area of noncompliance left unresolved for more than 120 days will 
receive a priority designation during the re-competition process.
  Second, the bill for the first time defines what makes a local 
program ``deficient.'' This will provide clarity for Head Start 
grantees so that they know the precise standards to which they will be 
held. Under the bill, a program may be deemed deficient if it is found 
to threaten the health, safety, or civil rights of children or staff, 
deny parents the exercise of their full roles and responsibilities, 
misuse funds, lose its legal status or financial viability, or violates 
other standards specified in the bill.
  Finally, the bill makes clear that the Governing Board shall be the 
body that is charged with running local programs and which will be held 
accountable for those programs. During our hearing on April 5, we 
learned from Mayor Wharton of Shelby County, TN, and other witnesses, 
that the dual governance structure between the governing board and the 
policy council was inadequate and neither body had decision-making 
authority. This bill gives governing boards direct authority--and holds 
them accountable--while ensuring that policy councils, on which parents 
sit, continue to play an important advisory role in the running of 
local Head Start programs.
  My mother taught me the importance of preschool education. When I was 
growing up, she ran a kindergarten in a converted garage in our 
backyard in Maryville, TN. She helped our community appreciate the 
value of a good preschool program. I have remembered both lessons in 
working with my colleagues to fashion this proposal to bring out the 
best in Head Start.
  I hope that my colleagues will join me in advancing this critical 
legislation to ensure the Head Start program meets its full potential.

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