NHSA: “SLOW-MOTION DEMISE” OF HEAD START SEEN IF CONGRESS FAILS TO ADD $234 MILLION TO UNDO DESTRUCTIVE 2006 BUDGET CUTS
Outright Reduction in 2006 Hitting Today Worsens Inflation-Adjusted Cuts in 2003-2005; NHSA Survey Shows Programs Slashed Across U.S.: Big Cuts in Staffing Levels, Days/Hours of Service, Transportation, Education Reimbursement for Degrees, Disability Services.
WASHINGTON, D.C.///April 11, 2006//If Congress does not act to add at least $234 million to the President’s 2007 budget for Head Start, most or all of the 2,700 Head Start programs across the United States “will end up crippled and perhaps unable to recover,” according to a warning issued today by the National Head Start Association (NHSA) and Head Start program officials across the United States.
Head Start officials are encouraged by the recent Senate vote to add $7 billion to the President’s budget for health and education programs, which could mean more money for Head Start. A letter bearing the signatures of 39 U.S. Senators went to the Senate Appropriations Committee leadership last week urging that $234 million of this amount be set aside as a “down payment” to undo last year’s damaging budget cuts to Head Start. Adding the funds would restore the 1 percent cut of 2006 and also make possible a small cost of living adjustment in 2007 for Head Start employees, including highly qualified teachers. A minimum of 19,000 Head Start children and Early Head Start infants and toddlers are in jeopardy under this year’s cuts, with thousands more of America’s most at-risk children to be hurt in 2007 if adequate funding isn’t enacted.
Even before the outright cut in 2006 Head Start funding, Head Start programs already were losing ground in the face of modest budget increases that failed to cover health care insurance premiums, rent hikes and extremely expensive unfunded federal mandates, including new transportation rules and the controversial National Reporting System (NRS), which involves the widely criticized SAT-like testing of preschoolers.
National Head Start Association President and CEO Sarah Greene said: “With the 2006 budget cut, Congress set in motion the slow-motion demise of Head Start programs, most of which already had run out of things to cut. Let there be no confusion about what is at stake here: local Head Start programs cannot hope to meet federal requirements – including mandatory levels of children that must be served – without the funds needed to do so. Unless Congress wants to essentially force local Head Start programs into non-compliance with Head Start Program Performance standards, they must provide the 2,700 local programs around the country with the resources they need to succeed. If Congress does not do so, I fear that Head Start may end up crippled and unable to recover. With the 2007 budget cycle, Congress can start fixing the problem with a small down payment of funding over and above what the President’s budget would provide.”
Barbara Haxton, executive director, Ohio Head Start Association, Dayton, OH, said: “Head Start in Ohio is being systematically weakened through cuts in funding. Across the last four years, Head Start has had a declining rate in cost of living adjustments that have not kept pace with the true cost of providing Head Start services. Dramatically increased costs of transporting children (unfunded regulation mandates coupled with high fuel costs, and increased insurance costs), spiraling health insurance costs, increased utility costs and space rental, have collectively impacted each Head Start budget in very negative ways. Now, in 2006, Head Start programs face an actual budget reduction of 1 percent. Head Start programs have reached a “tipping point”, where the cumulative declining adjustments may now result in actual service reduction … (N)o agency is escaping the need to make major reductions in service. A calculation of cost of living … shows a cumulative net shortfall in spending capacity for Head Start programs since FY 2003 of 9.3 percent of basic funding.”
The 12 states with the most at stake in the addition of the $234 million to the President’s 2007 budget (as calculated in terms of potentially lost child care slots) are: California (2,080); Texas (1,425); New York (1,037); Illinois (834); Ohio (800); Florida (748); Michigan (739); Pennsylvania (649); Mississippi (563); Georgia (493); Louisiana (462); and North Carolina (402).
An NHSA survey of cuts that are now being forced on local Head Start programs under the 2006 budget reduction includes the following highlights:
From Pennsylvania: “My program now has a waiting list of about 500 preschool children and 200 early head start children that we can’t serve.”
From Iowa: “We are also losing teachers because we can not pay them what they need and the cost for insurance is so high they can find more money and better plans taking jobs at Wal-Mart and fast food restaurants. We are losing teachers with early childhood degrees to jobs that are shared with high school kids. I think that is very sad. I am not exaggerating. It has happened twice this year … and it’s only February.”
From Michigan: “We no longer provide a minimal reimbursement to staff for college classes as related to their work in the program … Staff who had already begun B.A. or M.A. coursework have, for the most part, continued. However, no new staff has embarked on further studies since the loss of this assistance.”
From North Dakota: “We have shortened our days. This next year because of the 1% cut, we are eliminating our all day programs for 60 children and they can only go to a half-day program. Also, we have cut all our transportation in (certain areas) …”
From Wisconsin: “In the last several years we have had the unfunded mandates of the transportation regulations, teacher’s requirement for a four year degree, new emphasis on staff training and NRS testing of the children. These mandates for the most part have made significant improvements in the program but we have not been given any money to pay for them. In addition to these unfunded mandates, we have the rising cost of rents, gasoline, heating costs and health insurance. Last year our health insurance rose 30 percent.”
From Texas: “Our Head Start program is dropping its summer school program, which has been in place for approximately nine years. The summer school program was to assist those children who needed extra help before entering kindergarten. Because our program is connected to the school system, our teacher salaries are the same as the schools. With no additional funds for salary increases from the government, we will be forced to eliminate staff and other services such as transportation.”
Arnold Ramirez, executive director, Arizona Head Start Association, Tempe, AZ, said: “Over the past several years, programs in Arizona have truly been creative about doing more with less. Each year program budgets have been losing to inflation and in order to maintain quality, programs have had to reallocate resources so that services to children and families could remain at the highest levels. But with this new round of budget cuts, programs are now facing the possibility of reducing their enrollment. These decisions come at a time when more — not fewer – children need comprehensive Head Start services.”
Beryl Clark, Head Start director, Staten Island Mental Health Society/Head Start, Staten Island, NY, said: “Due to the budget shortfalls the past few years my Head Start programs has been squeezed. We have had to cutback on our very successful weekend and evening fatherhood programs and our family literacy efforts. We have also seen an increase in fuel costs resulting in a whopping $14,000 additional utility bill for this year. We are still making decisions about how the recently passed 1 percent cut will be absorbed, but with things in increasingly bad shape we will likely have to reduce services to children including by cutting a social services staff person. I hope Congress realizes that when they make decisions in Washington they are affecting real people including the many at-risk children and families that need help.”
ABOUT NHSA
The National Head Start Association is a private not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. It represents more than one million children, 200,000 staff and 2,700 Head Start programs in the United States.
CONTACT:
Ailis Aaron, (703) 276-3265 or aaaron@hastingsgroup.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
A streaming audio replay of a related National Head Start Association news event will be available today on the Web at http://www.saveheadstart.org as of 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.
Please take action now to save this vital program. You can donate, send a letter to Congress, volunteer your time, or donate some supplies to your local Head Start. I believe knowledge equals safety, and this program is at risk of falling apart. Millions of children all over America will lose. The future of our country will lose.
I think the lack of knowledge about Head Start is one of the problems. So, I am offering you this information along with the grim details about Head Start’s possible future if nothing changes.
I hope, from one caring parent to another, that I have convinced you to do anything you can in your power to help save this vital program.
Stay up-to-date at http://www.saveheadstart.org and http://www.nhsa.org/
You can also download flyers and other materials to get the word out.
Stay Safe!