30 Ways in 30 Days: Head Start

State Cuts Would Cost Kids the Head Start They Need

One plan would halve state funding for Head Start at a time when demand is expected to increase by 30% over the next two years.
 
HARRISBURG (June 18, 2009) - Shana is a teen mother who works hard in class because she knows her child is safe and well cared for in his Head Start classroom. She wants him to grow up knowing that his mother worked hard to make a better life for him.
 
But she and other parents worry that proposed cuts to state funding for Head Start could result in lower quality care that will deprive many children of the head start they need to excel.
 
In Senate Bill 850, state funding for Head Start would be slashed in half, from $39.5 million to $19.7 million. Advocates for children say it is wrong to balance Pennsylvania's budget on the backs of children and families in this way.
 
According to the Pennsylvania Head Start Association, the number of children needing a Head Start program is expected to increase dramatically - by 30% - in the next two years. The state funding helps Pennsylvania's lowest income, highest risk children obtain comprehensive health, nutrition, dental, parent education, family support and other services. These services have proven that they enable children's success in school and in life.
 
While federal stimulus funds are being directed to Head Start programs, the association notes that these one-time funds are intended to expand Early Head Start programming for children ages 0 to 3 and stimulate the economy. The association notes these funds are intended to strengthen Head Start's capacity to provide high quality service and to serve more children - not to be used to supplant cuts in Pennsylvania's current Head Start funding.
 
Without programs like Head Start, children miss out on connections with friends and adults, on learning to write their name and tie their shoes. Parents lose a lifeline to community connections and ways to help their children succeed, and face the risk of losing jobs when childcare is not available.
 
To learn more about the impact of potential state funding cuts to Head Start, contact Blair Hyatt, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Head Start Association, at 717-526-4646 or by email at blair@paheadstart.org.

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