Head Start Program Threatened
By Kim Swindell Wood
Sparta Expositor
July 28, 2003

"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it," said Congressman Lincoln Davis, during an interview Friday with The Expositor. "Head Start is crucial to the development of many of the children in my district.

Davis, who represents White County in the 4th Congressional District, voted against proposed plans that would remove services provided by Head Start programs. Instead, he voted for a substitute plan that would keep many of the key provisions of the Head Start program in place and remove the block grant proposal. However, the proposed block grant bill, which Davis opposed, passed the House with a vote of 217 to 216 and will now be sent to the Senate.

There are 3,093 children enrolled in 69 Head Start programs in Davis’ district, with approximately 82 percent living in families with incomes below the federal poverty line. "Head Start aims to give children the skills and abilities that will serve them throughout their school careers," said Davis.

Dorothy Pippin, LBJ&C Head Start director, said, "The president feels very strongly on his focus of ‘No Child Left Behind’ and full readiness, and Head Start really has not been as strong as maybe we should have been in our curriculum as far as teaching the skills of math and literacy and reading that’s needed for pre-school children in today’s times. Head Start has been very strong and supportive in preparing the child to learn. As far as their health and nutrition, we’ve worked real closely with parents and our social service program trying to get the whole family ready for the child to enter into school and ready to learn."

According to Davis, children in Head Start in the 4th Congressional District are more likely to receive necessary medical services than other low-income children. Pippin agreed and expounded upon the subject of the program’s health care service. "We’ve really done a lot with children to make sure all their health needs are met and all their nutrition needs were met," she said. "That’s been a strong focus with Head Start. At the same time, we had a curriculum, and we were teaching children, but not on the level of today’s times. What we have now is, last year, in fact, we started really a stronger curriculum on teaching children reading readiness, and I feel like if we’re given time and an opportunity, we can certainly do what the present administration is expecting of Head Start."

Pippin said President Bush wants more focus on classroom teaching. "We are gearing our program in that direction," she said. "Like I said, if we’re given time, we can do exactly what he [president] wants us to do. Also, at the same time, the present administration is looking strongly at turning the Head Start program over to the states, and in the last information I have, it looks like the program will be turned over to eight states for them to run as a state program, and we very much oppose this, because we just feel like Head Start has been around almost 38 years, and it should be left federal to local, instead of federal to state, and then, state to wherever they might decide to place it."

The proposed legislation would turn the Head Start program, which is now a federal program with numerous guidelines and requirements that local programs must meet, into a state block grant in certain states. Under the legislation, up to eight states would be granted federal funding for the program, but would no longer be subject to federal requirements, such as those that require programs to provide a high level of quality comprehensive educational, medical, dental and other services. The legislation would also allow states to divert funds from the Head Start program to other early childhood programs in the state.

"The way they are proposing for this to happen with the states, you see, we have performance standards that are national and regulations that we are expected to comply with," said Pippin. "My understanding is that this is not a stipulation for the program if it goes to the state. So, what I feel, along with other Head Start folks across the nation, is states could water it down a lot and maybe make it focusing in totally different directions than what we have known it to be for all these 38 years."

Pippin said when only specific states are set up for the pilot program, "then you are splintering" the program. "Every Head Start program across the nation has had the same guidelines that they were required to follow," she said. "Of course, you change it a little bit to fit your local area, but the bottom line was you had to meet those performance standards. In this proposal, they are saying they will give the states $5 million to operate it, and some states, and Tennessee has been one of them, they have been struggling with a pre-school kindergarten program. Funds have always been tight and, sometimes, not even available to operate this program. So, I could visualize, easily, Head Start begin phased into that program and putting it in with the pre-kindergarten, and of course, the schools operate them."

According to data from the 4th Congressional District, 2,972 children in Head Start (which totals 96 percent) have received preventive and primary health care, including all appropriate tests and physical examinations. Medical problems such as asthma, vision problems, or anemia, were found in 700 of these children, and 90 percent of these children received or are receiving treatment.

Also, 2,883 children in the Head Start program in the 4th Congressional District (which is 93 percent) have received all necessary immunizations. Head Start also provides significant assistance to children in obtaining dental care. In total, 2,866 children in Head Start in the 4th Congressional District have a continuous, accessible source of dental care and 51 percent have completed a dental exam.

"Whatever the Head Start children might need, as far as a health problem, we always make sure all the follow-ups are done and that problem is corrected, whatever it might be, even for example the speech therapy we provide for our children," said Pippin. "Even though schools provide speech therapists, Head Start has always focused a lot on physical needs, and we have taken the children and worked real closely with them and their families. If the program goes in with the public school system, I don’t believe the attention and effort will be made to meet all these needs."

Since its inception in 1965, the Head Start program has assisted 20 million low-income children and their families through a comprehensive early-learning environment, along with providing a variety of social and medical needs.

"Rural areas and children are often at a disadvantage due to a lack of services available to them," said Davis. "Rural American cannot afford to lose such a valuable asset.

The block grant proposal for Head Start will be discussed in the Senate this week, with a final vote not expected until after Labor Day. If the bill were to become law in its current form, it could wipe out all 43 of the Tennessee Head Start programs.

The Expositor will be contacting Senator Bill Frist and Senator Lamar Alexander about the upcoming Head Start debate in the Senate.