|
The
Indiana Head Start Association has this reply to President Bush's proposed
changes in the early education program: no way. The Bush administration is
suggesting that Head Start be shifted from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services to the Department of Education.
by Rob
Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, February 14, 2003
The Indiana Head Start Association has this reply to President Bush's
proposed changes in the early education program: no way.
The Bush administration is suggesting that Head Start be shifted from the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of
Education.
Those opposed to the change think the result will be elimination of many
services Head Start now provides to poor children. Head Start gives
toddlers basic education they need to do well in kindergarten. It also
provides health services and meals.
Nearly 2,000 children are enrolled in Head Start programs in Marion and
Hamilton counties, and more than 14,000 participate in the program
statewide.
Since its inceptions in 1965, more than 20 million children have attended
Head Start programs, with 905,000 children enrolled nationwide in 2002.
Kim Rhodes, director of the Head Start program for Family Development
Services in Indianapolis, said the key to the program is that it provides
help outside of the classroom.
"If a child is hungry, it's hard for them to focus," she explained.
Cheryl Miller, executive director of the Indiana Head Start Association,
said many think the Education Department would eliminate those services.
Head Start officials also worry that the Bush proposal would give states a
wider say in preschool program planning, resulting in an additional layer
of bureaucracy.
Parents and friends of Head Start students are being asked to write
letters to Congress opposing the proposal.
"The goal is to guarantee the proposal that was presented to us in the
2004 budget does not go forward," said Miller.
But at least one of Indiana's congressmen, U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, a
Republican, supports the idea.
Souder, who was a member of the House Committee on Education and the Work
Force until recently, said the debate has been going on for years, and
Head Start should have been moved when President Jimmy Carter created the
Department of Education in the 1970s.
"It was sold as an education program, not a dental, vaccination or school
breakfast program," Souder noted.
Windy Hill, associate commissioner for the national Head Start Bureau,
said she understands people are worried about the proposed changes. But
the proposal is aimed at enhancing Head Start, not destroying it, Hill
said.
Moving the program under the Education Department would ensure Head Start
teaches kids what they need to know, Hill said. They now rank behind other
kids going into public schools, she said.
Miller and other Head Start officials in Indiana remain worried.
"The bottom line is to continue the kinds of services that children and
families in Head Start have received for the last 37 years," Miller said.
"I think they would totally be gone," said Judy Bobe, director of Head
Start programs in southern Indiana.
Cristi Brewer, chairwoman of the program's policy council of the Kokomo
Head Start program, has seen her two children benefit from Head Start.
"I know it worked for us, and I don't want it to change." |
