Eight percent of the nation’s local Head Start agencies must compete with each other to obtain federal funding because they do not meet federal quality standards, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) announced this week.
Last month, President Obama announced the first-ever competition to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being properly used by Head Start services nationwide. The regulations went into effect Dec. 9 and affect 132 agencies in 37 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Providing robust, open competition for Head Start funding will not only provide opportunities for new organizations to offer services, but it also increases the number of low-income children in high-quality care,” said Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, director for the Office of Head Start.
The new regulation sets forth seven “transparent, research-based” conditions that HHS will use to determine quality. They will include standards for health and safety, fiscal integrity and classroom effectiveness. HHS said all 1,600 Head Start grantees nationwide will be evaluated during the next three years and estimated that one-third of all grantees will be required to re-compete for continued funding in that period.
If local agencies lose funding, transportation services also figure to suffer if they are not cut completely.
Addressing quality has been on the federal agenda since at least 2002, when President Bush directed HHS to develop a new Head Start accountability system to ensure that each local agency assesses standards of learning in early literacy, language and numeracy skills. Then, the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 amended the Head Start Act to require HHS to re-compete certain grants.
Earlier this year, the Senate voted down a bill that would have cut Head Start funding by 25 percent. Efforts continued to keep funding alive.
