Failed Follow-Up
More than words are needed to support Head Start.
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LAST YEAR'S reauthorization of Head Start was cause for celebration. Congress gave overwhelming, bipartisan support to the successful preschool program, and the president agreed that it should be renewed, even strengthened. Sadly, the celebration was short-lived. It has since become clear that educating this country's poor children gets paid lip service -- not the money that's needed to do the job.
The reauthorization measure included worthwhile improvements such as upgrading teacher requirements, making more children eligible and establishing priority enrollment for homeless children. Incredibly, though, the first budget appropriation enacted by the White House and Congress after the reauthorization, for fiscal 2008, provided less money. The $6.9 billion for Head Start represents a $10.6 million decrease from last year. Not only isn't it enough to pay for the hundreds of costly new requirements, it's not enough to pay for current operations. Viewed another way: The amount of the cut, according to the National Head Start Association, equals the cost of enrolling more than 26,500 children in Head Start or Early Head Start programs.
President Bush's budget proposal for next year contains additional funds, but they would do little to make up for previous years of stagnant funding under his administration. Rising costs have taken a toll on federal support for Head Start. The Head Start Association estimates the decline in federal support at 11 percent since 2002. That means that a Head Start program that received $1 in 2002 is only getting 89 cents in 2008. Already, some Head Start programs have had to cut back on days and hours of operation, eliminate services such as transportation, or accept fewer children.
The new unfunded mandates are likely to produce even more dramatic cuts to a program that has helped millions of low-income children since its birth in the 1960s. Through enrollment in Head Start and Early Head Start, children acquire the social and learning skills that prepare them for school and that increase their chances of doing better in life. As they prosper, so does society. Congress should follow through on its support for the reauthorization and provide adequate funding to a government program that works.
