COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 19, 2005

 Help Head Start Parents Fight Financial Mismanagement & Abuse

Support H.R. 2123, the School Readiness Act

 Dear Colleague:

We believe Head Start parents must have a strong voice in deciding how their children’s Head Start centers are managed and operated – and they must also have the information needed to ensure public funds meant to serve their children are actually being used for that purpose.  On Thursday, the House will consider the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123) to ensure that this is the case.

Annual federal appropriations for the Head Start early childhood program now total nearly $7 billion, almost double the amount Head Start was receiving when Republicans assumed leadership of the House in 1995.  Sadly, however, media reports and an independent investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have revealed chronic financial control problems in Head Start that are cheating low-income children, parents, taxpayers, and honest grantees.

To empower Head Start parents and taxpayers and protect against the potential for abuse or mismanagement of Head Start funds, the School Readiness Act: 

• Rejects proposals that would abolish parent policy councils, and instead ensures parents have far better access to information about how their children’s Head Start centers are being run. 

• Ensures that the local Head Start board is accountable to parents and taxpayers for the actions of individuals entrusted with federal Head Start funds, by improving disclosure and requiring the board to act in consultation with a parent policy council.

• Requires local Head Start boards to employ a well-qualified fiscal staff with a history of successful program management to protect the interests of parents and taxpayers, and requires that a financial audit be conducted by an independent auditor on an annual basis who can independently verify for parents and taxpayers that Head Start resources are being spent responsibly.

• Requires Head Start grantees to annually file a financial disclosure statement that documents how federal Head Start grant funds were used, giving parents and taxpayers a public document they can consult to verify that Head Start funds are not being squandered or misused.

• Requires Head Start grantees to demonstrate strong parent involvement and activities to develop parent skills to support their children’s educational development.  Grantees that fail to demonstrate such efforts will automatically be required to compete with other potential grant recipients to retain their grants, and could lose their Head Start grants.

Parents have always played a pivotal role in the success of Head Start.  By enacting the reforms in H.R. 2123, we will not only preserve this vital role for Head Start parents, but enhance it significantly.  We urge you to join us in supporting this legislation Thursday when it reaches the House floor. 

Sincerely,