They learn to brush their teeth. They learn to share. And the
128 low-income students participating in the county’s Head Start
program acquire other skills to better prepare them for
kindergarten and beyond.
They learn to brush their teeth. They learn to share. And the 128 low-income students participating in the county’s Head Start program acquire other skills to better prepare them for kindergarten and beyond.
But educators fear a Bush administration proposal will dismantle the program – which has been in operation since 1965 – and its benefits to young children.
The proposal includes making Head Start a block grant program and shifting direct control from the federal government to the nation’s cash-strapped governors. State governors would then be forced to meld the program with existing state programs.
“Head Start would lose quality (if the changes were made). It would lose all the comprehensive services we’re providing,” said Ana Trujillo, director of Children’s Services with the Santa Clara County Office of Education which oversees the Head Start program in San Benito County. “I’m concerned about what it means.”
Educators said the changes would “dismantle” the Head Start program because by grouping funding under block grants, several programs would compete for limited funds. Many states, including California, are experiencing budget cuts, making it a difficult time to put control of such a large program in the hands of the states. Educators also argued Head Start would be low on the priority lists for the states.
“The state could not handle it. The volume is too much for states to handle,” said Peggy Pavese, a teacher at the Head Start on Line Street. “It’s such a large volume across the United States. The state is barely able to handle what it has right now.”
Tim Foley, county superintendent of schools, said that if federal money came with the block grant money, the change should not be detrimental in the short run.
The Bush administration has also proposed shifting the program’s oversight from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the U.S. Department of Education, a move that would bolster the administration’s educational mission. The change is an extension of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act which aims to have every child reading by the third grade. Administration officials said the change would allow states to coordinate Head Start better with their own preschool programs.
But, Trujillo said the move will put focus primarily on academics and disregard teachings in health, social and cognitive services and parent involvement that are intertwined in the program.
“The program gets kids ready for kindergarten,” Trujillo said. “Primarily, we work with the whole family providing support services and health services. It really makes it a comprehensive program. That’s what makes it unique.”
Head Start is similar to a preschool, but offers social service assistance to low-income students and their families. For the 2001-02 program year, there were 100,902 students enrolled in Head Start in California and about 92,689 families were served, according to the California Head Start Association.
Head Start is for children ages 2.9 to 5. Early Head Start is for infants to children age 3. There are two Head Start sites in the county with two classrooms at each site.
The Line Street site features the part-day program model with two different sets of classes that run from 8:15 to 11:45 a.m. and from 1-4:30 p.m. The morning group is served breakfast and lunch and the afternoon group is served lunch. There is one teacher and one teacher’s aide in each classroom and 80 students attend, Trujillo said.
The San Felipe Road location offers the full-day program with one teacher and two teacher’s aides, and 48 students are enrolled. Classes meet four days a week.
Nationally, Head Start is a $6.8 billion program that serves three in five eligible children.
Administration of Head Start was transferred to the Santa Clara County Office of Education from the San Benito County Office of Education in the early 1980s, Trujillo said.
Eighty percent of the program’s funding comes from the federal government and 20 percent from local resources, Trujillo said. Local resources include parent volunteers, and most of the land for Head Start locations is given free from school districts, she said. It costs about $200,000 per classroom per year to run Head Start, she said.
Eligibility requirements hinge on total family income. The limit for a family of four is about $18,000, based on poverty calculations from the federal government, Trujillo said.
“That is very low for both counties,” she said. “That’s been one of our biggest challenges all along, especially in Silicon Valley.”
In the county, 60 percent of Head Start students primarily speak Spanish at home, Trujillo said, and many, by the time they leave Head Start, can speak English.
Topics taught in Head Start include the food pyramid, personal safety, helmet and bicycle safety, dental health and how to work with other children.
“They’re (students) exposed to so many new experiences,” Pavese said.
Also, parents are taught about vaccinations and social services available to them and their family.
“The benefits for the kids are that (Head Start) gives them skills they’ll need to compete in kindergarten that they wouldn’t otherwise get,” Trujillo said. “For the parents, they learn how to help their children and reinforce they’re learning. It’s about carrying the experience through the elementary school experience.”
Head Start advocates agreed that changes to the Head Start program could put the children behind when they start kindergarten.
