Responding to President Bush's call to improve Head Start, the 38-year-old federal program designed to increase educational opportunities for low-income preschoolers, House Republicans introduced a reform plan designed to close the school "readiness gap" that exists between low-income youngsters and their more affluent peers when they begin kindergarten. While the bill includes much of what Bush initially sought - an emphasis on academic standards and pre-reading, pre-mathematics, and English language acquisition skills, as well as loosening of federal control over the program - the School Readiness Act of 2003 (H.R. 2210) is both more specific than the White House plan and very different in parts. First, it outlines what states must do to win control over the program - guarantee level funding for Head Start and other preschool programs (even in a budget crunch), and meet a series of administrative requirements to prove their capacity to run the program. Also, while the White House plan would have shifted the program into the Department of Education, the House bill keeps Head Start in Health and Human Services, and maintains its health and nutrition services. According to the House Education Committee, the provisions of this bill reflect "the Head Start principles adopted recently by the bipartisan National Governors Association (NGA)."
"House Republicans offer plan to strengthen Head Start, discourage states from cutting early childhood education spending," press release from the Committee on Education and the Workforce, May 22, 2003
"GOP acts to remake Head Start," by Amy Goldstein, Washington Post, May 23, 2003
"House Republicans unveil effort to overhaul Head Start management," by Shawn Zeller, Government Executive, May 23, 2003
For the Gadfly's treatment of Bush's original proposal, see "Head Start Re-Start" at http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=10#350.