“Eliminate the Head Start Program”; Heritage Foundation, “Mandate for Leadership: the Conservative Promise”. p. 482
Heritage declares: “Research has demonstrated that federal Head Start centers, which provide preschool care to children from low-income families, have little or no long-term academic value for children. Given its unaddressed crisis of rampant abuse and lack of positive outcomes, this program should be eliminated along with the entire OHS.”
Talking Points:
An educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of American democracy and to the continued growth of the US economy. The federal government’s roles have been to help disadvantaged American children get a good education, starting with their earliest years when child development is critical, and continuing through advanced college and graduate studies, as appropriate.
The federal roles and financial assistance to education began during the presidency of Eisenhower, after the landmark civil rights holding in Brown v. Board of Education that public school segregation was unequal and unconstitutional, and it further accelerated during the presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Carter after the Soviet launch of Sputnik into space in 1957 had raised public awareness of the need to improve the performance of our education system in math and the sciences.
Head Start provides enriched childcare to low-income children designed to help them succeed in school. It was established in 1965 as part of the Great Society programs; it costs about $11 billion. It funds childcare centers that serve about 800,000 young, low-income children and their parents; over 110,000 are children with disabilities. One of the program’s aims is early diagnosis, evaluation and intervention to help children with learning limitations succeed when they enter school. Head Start plays a vital role in childcare deserts (i.e. rural communities, low-income communities, and tribal communities where there are few other childcare services available). It is essential for low income working families who otherwise face average childcare costs of $12,000 – a huge and unaffordable share of their limited family incomes that would severely burden their ability to work. It has long had bi-partisan support in Congress.
Grantees are subject to extensive health and safety oversight by their states and by the federal government. The Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services reviewed the performance of Head Start grantees during the nearly five year period between October 2015 and May 2020; it found about 1,000 reported health and safety violations occurred and made a series of recommendations for improvements, all of which HHS agreed were needed and implemented.
Ending this program is a key component of Project 2025’s efforts to get the federal government out of its historic roles in helping low-income and disadvantaged children get a better education and better life opportunities. It is part of a comprehensive effort by Project 2025 to eliminate federal assistance to low income and disabled children that includes the recommended elimination of the federal Department of Education and promoting no strings block grants of current Title 1 Education Funding for Low Income Students and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)funding. This would eliminate federal oversight and state and local accountability to improve the performance of public schools in educating low income and disabled children.
References:
Project 2025 Would End Head Start and Hurt Children with Disabilities https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/project-2025-would-end-head-start-and-hurt-children-with-disabilities/
Childcare Deserts would Expand under Project 2025’s Plan to Eliminate Head Start https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-child-care-deserts-would-expand-under-project-2025s-plan-to-eliminate-head-start-cap-analysis-finds/
Project 2025 Would End Early Education Program for Low Income Americans https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/politifact/2024/07/26/politifact-yes-project-2025-would-end-early-education-program/74541640007/
Project 2025 Would Eliminate Head Start, Severely Restricting Access to Child Care in Rural America https://www.americanprogress.org/article/project-2025-would-eliminate-head-start-severely-restricting-access-to-child-care-in-rural-america/
How Could Project 2025 Change Education, https://hechingerreport.org/how-could-project-2025-change-education/
Office of Inspector General Report, ACF Should Improve Oversight of Head Start, https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/OEI-BL-19-00560.pdf