Bush Pushes State-Run Head Start Plan

WASHINGTON -- With Congress preparing for votes on his education agenda, President Bush pressed lawmakers Monday to approve legislation that would grant some states new power to run the federal Head Start program, which offers preschool, health and nutrition services to nearly 1 million impoverished children nationwide.

But unlike a significant education reform measure enacted in January 2002, the legislation to revise Head Start lacks substantial bipartisan support. Democrats say the Republican-drafted bill, which could come to a vote in the House by next week, could wreck a program that is one of the enduring symbols of Washington’s 1960s-era war on poverty.

At the same time, the Democrats are stepping up their criticism of a $138-billion spending bill the Republican-led House plans to take up Thursday to fund labor, health, education and other programs.

Democrats contend that the spending bill breaks Bush’s promise to “leave no child behind” by failing to meet funding levels for elementary and secondary education that were authorized under the 2002 reform law. Republicans respond that the Department of Education has grown faster in the last decade than most other federal agencies and remains a consistent winner under Bush’s budgets.

The president visited an elementary school in Landover, Md., on Monday to promote the Head Start bill as another part of his reform plans. He said the program should redouble its efforts to promote literacy through scientifically proven reading curricula.

“This is a very important initiative I’m talking about,” Bush said. “It seems like to me a fantastic opportunity for the country to make sure that the desires of this country are met, and that is every child becomes a good reader.”

Bush referred only glancingly to the most controversial element of the House Republican bill: a provision that would allow up to eight states unprecedented control over federal Head Start dollars that now go directly to local agencies. Some governors have asked for the power to mesh the federal program with separate state-funded preschool initiatives.

“It’s management flexibility to be able to take the Head Start program, dovetail it in the preschool program, then the kindergarten program, and then into the elementary school program. Governors ought to have the flexibility,” Bush said.

More than 912,000 children participated in Head Start in 2002, about 98,000 of them Californians, according to the National Head Start Assn., a private organization representing the country’s Head Start programs. Head Start was created in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Under the House bill, introduced by Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.), as many as eight states would be allowed to assume control of their Head Start programs if they meet certain standards. Participating states would be required to match a portion of the federal money and guarantee that dollars from Washington would not be used to offset reductions in state or local spending.

The bill would authorize about $6.9 billion for Head Start in the fiscal year that begins in October, an amount Republicans describe as an increase of more than $200 million.

Democrats on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress have heaped criticism on the proposal.

“Once again, George Bush seems more interested in a convenient photo op than in a genuine commitment to a program that is critical to the lives of almost a million children,” said Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a White House aspirant. “George W. Bush’s proposal to end our federal commitment to Head Start makes further mockery of his promise to leave no child behind.”

Rep. George Miller of Martinez, ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said: “Instead of building on the success of Head Start, the president’s plan would bring about the demise of one of the best federally supported early-childhood programs. It would bring about the end of high-quality federal standards and comprehensive services that have helped low-income children become better prepared to start school.”

Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), chairman of the education committee, could not be reached for comment Monday. In June, he said in a statement: “If states are willing to commit to high standards and funding for early childhood education, then the federal government should be willing to let them coordinate Head Start with their own programs.”