[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 5332-5334]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00635]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
45 CFR Part 1302
RIN 0970-AC63
Secretarial Determination To Lower Head Start Center-Based
Service Duration Requirements
AGENCY: Office of Head Start (OHS), Administration for Children and
Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notification; Head Start center-based service duration
requirements.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary of Health and Human Services has the authority,
on or before February 1, 2020, to lower the percentage of center-based
funded enrollment slots for which Head Start programs must provide
1,020 annual hours of planned class operations, based on an assessment
of the availability of sufficient funding to mitigate a substantial
reduction in funded enrollment. The Secretary hereby gives notice of
his exercise of that authority to reduce the percentage from 100
percent (all) of a Head Start program's center-based slots, to 45
percent of a Head Start program's center-based slots.
DATES: This action is effective January 30, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Office of Head Start, Mary Switzer Bldg., 330 C Street SW,
Washington, DC 20201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colleen Rathgeb, Division Director for
Planning, Oversight and Policy, Office of Head Start,
[email protected], (202) 358-3263 (not a toll-free call). Deaf
and hearing impaired individuals may call the Federal Dual Party Relay
Service at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern Standard
Time.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Head Start Duration Requirements
The Office of Head Start (OHS) has long established performance
requirements for Head Start programs in regulation, including duration
requirements. For more than two decades, Head Start programs have been
required to meet a minimum service duration of 3.5 hours per day, 4
days per week, for 128 days per year for center-based funded slots.\1\
45 CFR 1302.21(c)(2((i). However, in September 2016, OHS revised the
regulations governing the Head Start program, known as the Head Start
Program Performance Standards. See 81 FR 61293 (Sept. 6, 2016). Those
standards required Head Start programs \2\ to provide,
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\1\ ``Center-based slots'' refers to Head Start-funded slots.
\2\ In this notice, ``Head Start'' refers to programing services
to preschool-age children, and does not refer to Early Head Start
services.
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(1) By August 1, 2019, 1,020 annual hours of planned class
operations over the course of at least eight months per year for at
least 50 percent of its Head Start center-based funded enrollment; and
(2) By August 1, 2021, a program must provide 1,020 annual hours of
planned class operations over the course of at least eight months per
year for all of its Head Start center-based funded enrollment. See
45CFR 1302.21(c)(2).
Under the new regulations, this requirement is a minimum; programs
can choose to operate some or all slots at a greater number of annual
hours. The 1,020 hours requirement represents an increase from the
existing minimum requirement of 3.5 hours per day, 4 days per week, for
128 days per year, which is equivalent to 448 annual hours. The
regulation, however, authorized the Secretary to reduce those
requirements, by February 1, 2018 and February 1, 2020, respectively,
based on an assessment of the availability of sufficient funding to
mitigate a substantial reduction in funded enrollment. See 45 CFR
1302.21(c)(3).
As noted, the 100 percent service duration standard is one of two
requirements OHS included in the performance standards to phase-in full
day, full school year services for all
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Head Start center-based slots over five years. OHS based its decision
to require Head Start programs to provide 1,020 annual hours of service
to all center-based slots, by August 1, 2021, on a body of research
that suggests children in poverty benefit from longer exposure to high-
quality early learning programs than what is provided by part-day and/
or part-year programs. Research on full-day programs, instructional
time, summer learning loss, and attendance all indicate longer service
duration is linked with improved child outcomes \3\ and increased
parental workforce participation.\4\ Moreover, increased service
duration allows teachers more time to provide individualized and
content-rich learning that is important for positive child outcomes,
and also better supports working families who need a safe, nurturing
care environment for their children during the day.
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\3\ Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation:
Final Report. (2012). Washington, DC: Office of Head Start,
Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.; Li, W. (2012). Effects of Head Start hours on
children's cognitive, pre-academic, and behavioral outcomes: An
instrumental variable analysis. Presented at Fall 2012 Conference of
the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.; Robin,
K.B., Frede, E.C., Barnett, W.S. (2006.) NIEER Working Paper--Is
More Better? The Effects of Full-Day vs Half-Day Preschool on Early
School Achievement. NIEER.; Walston, J.T., and West, J. (2004).
Full-day and Half-day Kindergarten in the United States: Findings
from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of
1998-99 (NCES 2004-078). U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office.; Wasik, B. & Snell, E. (2015). Synthesis of
Preschool Dosage: Unpacking How Quantity, Quality and Content
Impacts Child Outcomes. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
\4\ Gibbs, C.R. (2014). A Matter of Time? Impact of Statewide
Full-day Kindergarten Expansions on Later Academic Skills and
Maternal Employment. The Department of Labor 2013-2014 Scholars
Program, 2.; Morrissey, T.W. (2017). Child care and parent labor
force participation: A review of the research literature. Review of
Economics of the Household, 15(1), 1-24.
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The January 2018 Notice
On January 19, 2018, the Secretary issued a document, under 45 CFR
1302.(c)(3)(i), reducing to zero the percent of Head Start center-based
slots required to provide 1,020 annual hours of service by August 1,
2019. See 83 FR 2743 (Jan. 19, 2018). As explained at the time, the
decision was made due to insufficient funding to support the
implementation of the 50 percent service duration requirement without
significant slot loss.
The March 2019 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
OHS has also revisited the merits of the 100 percent service
duration standard and became concerned that this requirement may be too
prescriptive to afford programs flexibility to design and operate
service models that best meet the needs of the families they serve,
especially in light of insufficient federal appropriations for all
programs to meet this requirement. Although research points to the
benefits of increased service duration for an individual child and
family, research cannot answer whether the population as a whole
benefits more when fewer children are served for a longer period of
time in high-quality early education programs as compared to more
children being served for a shorter time in high-quality early
education programs. Therefore, OHS issued a Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (NPRM) on March 26, 2019, that proposed to remove the 100
percent service duration standard. OHS issued the NPRM with the goals
of reducing regulatory burden and restoring flexibility to Head Start
grantees to design programs that best meet the needs of their local
communities. The public comment period has since ended, and OHS is
currently reviewing the comments and considering its next steps.
In the meantime, if the 100 percent service duration standard were
to go into effect without additional funding from Congress to support
it, Head Start programs would be required to decrease, significantly,
the number of center-based slots available in Head Start programs
because they would have to extend the number of hours for which they
provide classroom services. The performance standards regulation
authorizes the Secretary to lower this requirement by February 1, 2020,
based on an assessment of available funding, to avoid significant slots
loss in Head Start due to this requirement. As OHS considers the next
steps for the overall policy direction on service duration, OHS needs
to consider the impact that the 100 percent service duration standard
would have on the number of children that each Head Start grantee
services and address any significant slot loss in those Head Start
programs.
Authority
The requirements under 45 CFR 1302.21(c)(3)(ii) of the Head Start
Program Performance Standards allows the Secretary to lower the 100
percent service duration requirement described in 45 CFR
1302.21(c)(2)(iv), on or before February 1, 2020, based on an
assessment of the availability of sufficient funding to mitigate a
substantial reduction in funded enrollment in Head Start. That section
provides, On or before February 1, 2020, the Secretary may lower the
required percentage described in paragraph (c)(2)(iv) of this section
[establishing the 100 percent service duration requirement], based on
an assessment of the availability of sufficient funding to mitigate a
substantial reduction in funded enrollment. 45 CFR 1302.21(c)(3)(ii).
In the January 2018 Federal Register document, HHS and OHS removed
the parallel provision that required at least 50 percent of a Head
Start program's center-based slots provide 1,020 hours of classroom
operations per year--meaning that Head Start grantees did not have to
significantly reduce slots in order to meet this requirement.
Funding Assessment
Based on the information and the Head Start program assessment
provided to him, the Secretary concludes that Head Start appropriations
are not sufficient to allow the requirement at 45 CFR
1302.21(c)(2)(iv), for 100 percent of each Head Start program's center-
based slots to operate for 1,020 annual hours, to go into effect
without resulting in a substantial reduction in Head Start center-based
slots.
In fiscal year (FY) 2016, Congress appropriated $294 million to
support an increase in hours of program operations across Head Start
and Early Head Start. At that time, the 100 percent service duration
standard was not in effect. However, eligible programs that wished to
voluntarily increase hours of program operations for their Head Start
or Early Head Start center-based slots could submit an application to
receive supplemental funds. Head Start programs operating less than 40
percent of their center-based slots for 1,020 hours were eligible to
apply for funding. Due to the limited availability of funding, OHS used
the 40 percent threshold to prioritize those Head Start programs
operating the fewest full day, full school year slots and to help
ensure all Head Start programs had at least 40 percent of their slots
operating at 1,020 annual hours. Over 600 Head Start programs were able
to increase service duration for their center-based slots through this
funding opportunity.
Subsequently, in FY 2018, Congress appropriated an additional $260
million to further support an increase in hours of operation for Head
Start programs. Head Start programs that operated less than 45 percent
of their center-based slots at 1,020 hours, and wished to increase
hours of program operation, were eligible to submit an application to
receive funds. Over 500 programs were able to increase service duration
for 45 percent of their Head Start center-based
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slots to 1,020 hours per year. Some eligible programs chose not to
apply for one or both rounds of additional funding to support longer
service duration.
OHS has conducted an assessment of available funding and the
percentages of slots individual programs currently operate at 1,020
annual hours. Approximately 30 percent of Head Start center-based
programs currently operate all of their slots for 1,020 hours or longer
per year. Conversely, approximately 10 percent of Head Start center-
based programs do not operate any of their slots for 1,020 hours per
year. Approximately 78 percent of Head Start center-based programs
operate at least 45 percent of their slots at 1,020 hours per year.
Approximately 59 percent of Head Start center-based programs operate at
least 50 percent of their slots at 1,020 hours per year.
Based on this assessment, ACF/OHS estimates that full
implementation of the requirement at 45 CFR 1302.21(c)(2)(iv) for the
remaining programs to operate 100 percent of their Head Start center-
based slots for 1,020 annual hours would cost approximately $730
million in additional funding. In the absence of additional
appropriations to support longer duration, Head Start programs would
have to adjust (reduce) the number of slots available, in order to be
able to operate the remaining slots at 1,020 hours per year. The
requirement would result in a loss of approximately 73,800 Head Start
slots, which represents roughly 11 percent of existing Head Start
slots. This loss would constitute a substantial reduction in Head Start
funded enrollment, and therefore makes lowering the 100 percent
requirement necessary.
The FY 2020 President's Budget did not request an increase in
appropriations to support longer service duration in Head Start. OHS
does not expect sufficient funding to become available for Head Start
programs to meet the Head Start Program Performance Standards 100
percent duration standard by August 2021. However, currently 78 percent
of Head Start programs (1,050 programs) operate at least 45 percent of
their center-based slots at 1,020 hours. In contrast, 410 Head Start
programs operate less than 45 percent of their center-based slots at
1,020 hours. If OHS were to require all Head Start programs to operate
at least 45 percent of their center-based slots at 1,020, OHS assumes
that approximately 20 percent of all Head Start center-based programs
(290 programs, or approximately 70 percent of Head Start programs that
operate less than 45 percent of their center-based slots at 1,020 hours
on an annual basis) would apply for and receive a waiver of this
requirement.\5\ This would leave 120 programs (representing 6,600
center-based slots) that would likely need to increase duration for
some of their slots in order to meet a requirement to operation 45
percent of their center-based slots at 1,020 hours per year. OHS
estimates that it would cost $25.5 million for these programs to meet
such a requirement; to meet the requirement, without an increase in
funding, would require such programs to decrease the number of center-
based Head Start slots by less than 1 percent or approximately 2,600
Head Start slots.
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\5\ In order to receive a waiver of the 100 percent duration
requirement, a program would have to demonstrate the their proposed
program design effectively supports children's development and
progress in early learning outcomes and better meets the needs of
parents.
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OHS believes lowering the 1,020 annual hour requirement from 100
percent to 45 percent reflects prior Congressional appropriations
because the most recent appropriations allowed programs to increase the
percentage of slots that operate for 1,020 hours up to 45 percent. This
will mitigate the chance of substantial slot loss that would likely
occur under a 100 percent requirement.
Based on this assessment presented by OHS, the Secretary of Health
and Human Services determines that there is insufficient funding for
Head Start programs to implement a 100 percent service duration
requirement of 1,020 hours per year, without a substantial reduction in
funded enrollment. Accordingly, the Secretary exercises his authority
to lower the required percentage from 100 percent to 45 percent, based
on the assessment that there is sufficient Head Start funding available
such that a requirement that 45% of center-funded slots operate at
1,020 hours per year would not result in a substantial reduction in
funded enrollment. Accordingly, by this notice, HHS lowers the 100
percent duration requirement to 45 percent.
Conclusion
In accordance with 45 CFR 1302.21(c)(3)(ii), the Secretary
determines that there is not sufficient funding available to mitigate a
substantial reduction in funded enrollment resulting from the
requirement described in 45 CFR 1302.21(c)(2)(iv), that 100 percent of
a Head Start program's center-based funded enrollment operate for 1,020
annual hours of planned classroom operations by August 1, 2021, and
hereby lowers that percentage from 100 percent to 45 percent. This
determination is effective immediately. Because the performance
standards govern the Secretary's discretion in this matter, and
authorize the Secretary to take this action, no public comment process
is required.
The service duration requirements for Head Start center-based
programs described in 45 CFR 1302.21(c)(2)(i) and (ii) also remain in
effect for those slots not operating at 1,020 annual hours. Under these
requirements, a Head Start center-based program must provide, at a
minimum, at least 160 days per year of planned class operations if it
operates for five days per week, or at least 128 days per year if it
operates four days per week. Classes must operate for a minimum of 3.5
hours per day. These requirements are minimums, and programs can choose
to operate some slots longer each day and/or for more days per year.
Additionally, the requirement that Early Head Start programs provide
1,380 annual hours of planned class operations for all center-based
enrollment remains in effect.
Dated: December 19, 2019.
Alex M. Azar II,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2020-00635 Filed 1-29-20; 8:45 am]
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