Order Code RL30952
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Head Start Issues in the 108th Congress

Updated June 25, 2003
Melinda Gish and Alice Butler
Domestic Social Policy Division
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Head Start Issues in the 108th Congress
Summary
Head Start is a federal program that has provided comprehensive early
childhood development services to low-income children since 1965. Services
provided to preschool-aged children include child development, educational, health,
nutritional, social and other activities, intended to prepare low-income children for
entering kindergarten. The program is administered by the Administration for
Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Unlike many other social service programs, federal Head Start funds are
provided directly to local grantees, rather than through states. Programs are locally
designed, and are administered by a network of about 1,500 public and private
nonprofit agencies. In FY2002, Head Start funded enrollment for 912,345 children.
Head Start was last reauthorized in 1998 (P.L. 105-285) for fiscal years 1999-
2003, and is due to be reauthorized this year. Alongside his FY2004 budget request
(which asked for $6.8 billion for Head Start), President Bush has proposed to give
states the option to administer the program, provided they supply a plan that
sufficiently explains how Head Start will be coordinated with other preschool
programs to foster comprehensive, high quality preschool programs. The budget also
conveys the Administration’s plan to transfer federal responsibility for the Head Start
program from HHS to the Department of Education. The reauthorization bill
introduced in the House (H.R. 2210), and approved in committee does not include
the transfer proposal (but does include an eight-state demonstration program).
The Head Start program has received increases of varying levels over the past
two decades (see Table 1). P.L. 108-7 provides $6.668 billion for Head Start, of
which $1.4 billion becomes available in FY2004. This total reflects a $130 million
increase from the FY2002 appropriation of $6.538 billion.
Program performance and the long-term impact on children, particularly with
respect to educational attainment, continue to be areas of focus and concern. The
1998 revisions to the Head Start Act increased the amount of new appropriations that
must be used for quality improvement activities, at least through FY2003. In part,
the law requires HHS to develop specific education performance standards, and
establishes teacher and staff training related to these standards as a priority use of
quality improvement funds. In addition, the 1998 amendments to Head Start
mandate and reserve funds for additional studies on the program’s impact.
Development of a national reporting system that can be used to assess the
effectiveness of Head Start programs in achieving successful outcomes for children
in terms of school readiness — particularly the areas of literacy and number
knowledge — is currently underway. This national reporting system is scheduled to
be implemented this fall, and will reportedly assess Head Start 4- and 5-year olds
twice a year on educational performance measures — using indicators that were
included in legislation as part of the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start. Teachers
are also being trained in a Strategic Teacher Education Program (STEP), to use
research-based strategies to implement early and emergent literacy.

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Contents
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Head Start Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Eligibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Early Head Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
President’s Head Start Proposals and Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Reauthorization Bills in 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1998 Reauthorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Long-Term Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
FACES and Head Start Impact Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Coordination with Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
List of Tables
Table 1. Head Start Funding: FY1990-FY2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Table 2. Estimates of Head Start Populations and Percent Served, FY2001 . . . . 6
Table 3. Head Start FY2003 State Allocations (Estimates) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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Head Start Issues in the 108th Congress
Overview
Head Start is a federal program that has provided comprehensive early
childhood development services to low-income children since 1965. The program is
administered by the Administration for Children and Families of the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS). Head Start, last reauthorized in 1998 (P.L. 105-
285) for fiscal years 1999-2003, is up for reauthorization this year. Alongside his
FY2004 budget request (which asked for $6.8 billion for Head Start), President Bush
proposed to give states the option to administer the program, provided they supply
HHS and the Department of Education with a plan that sufficiently explains how
Head Start would be coordinated with other preschool programs to foster
comprehensive, high quality preschool programs. The budget also conveys the
Administration’s desire to transfer federal responsibility for the Head Start program
from HHS to the Department of Education. (For more details see President’s
FY2004 Budget Request and President’s Head Start Proposal, later in this report.)
The Head Start reauthorization bill introduced in the House (H.R. 2210) on May
22, 2003, featured the state option provision (as Title II of the bill, entitled “State
Demonstration Program”), but did not propose to move the Head Start program from
HHS to the Department of Education. On June 12, 2003, the Subcommittee on
Education Reform forwarded an amended version of H.R. 2210 to the full Committee
on Education and the Workforce, restricting the state demonstration program to a
maximum of eight states. The full committee further amended H.R. 2210 on June
19, 2003, but the eight-state demonstration program was retained from
subcommittee’s bill. (For more information see Reauthorization Bills in 2003, later
in this report.)
The Head Start program has received increases of varying levels over the past
two decades (see Table 1). The most recent appropriations measure, the
Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003 (H.J.Res. 2) was signed into law (P.L.
108-7) on February 20, 2003, and provides the Head Start program with $6.668
billion (of which $1.4 billion becomes available in FY2004). The program was
funded at $6.538 billion for FY2002, up from $6.2 billion in FY2001, and $5.267
billion in FY2000.
Head Start Program
Services. Head Start provides comprehensive early childhood development,
educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to low-income preschool
children and their families. These services are intended to prepare children to enter
kindergarten and to improve the conditions necessary for their success in later school

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CRS-2
and life. Head Start strongly emphasizes the involvement of families and the local
community to assure that programs are responsive to the unique needs of each
community. Since flexibility in local program design and operation is encouraged,
there is wide variation across the country in how Head Start services are delivered
(e.g., center-based, home-based, or some combination), as well as in local program
costs, sponsoring agencies, and coordination arrangements with other social service
programs. Head Start operates both full- and part-day programs — most only during
the school year. Some local Head Start programs do coordinate with other programs
to lengthen the time of care, both in terms of hours, and the year. Full-day
enrollment in Head Start is defined as 6 or more hours per day. Part-day sessions
must comply with a minimum class time requirement of 3.5 hours.
Funding. Federal appropriations for Head Start substantially increased during
the 1990s, tripling from the FY1990 level of $1.552 billion to the FY1999 level of
$4.658 billion, and quadrupling from FY1990 to the FY2003 level of $6.668 billion.
These increased appropriations have been used both to expand the number of
children served and for quality improvement activities.
Table 1. Head Start Funding: FY1990-FY2003
($ in billions)
Year
Authorization
Appropriation
Year
Authorization
Appropriation
1990
1.552
1.552
1997
ssan
3.981
1991
2.386
1.952
1998
ssan
4.347
1992
4.273
2.202
1999
ssan
4.658
1993
5.924
2.776
2000
ssan
5.267a
1994
7.660
3.326
2001
ssan
6.200a
1995
ssan
3.534
2002
ssan
6.538a
1996
ssan
3.569
2003
ssan
6.668a
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) based on data from the Head
Start Bureau.
ssan=such sums as necessary.
a This amount includes an advance appropriation of $1.4 billion for the following fiscal year.
Unlike some other federal social service programs that are funded through the
states, HHS awards Head Start funds directly to local public and private nonprofit
grantees. Grantees must contribute a 20% nonfederal match, which may be in cash
or in-kind, unless they are granted a waiver. No more than 15% of a grantee’s total
program costs may be for administration. Funds are awarded to about 1,500 grantees
at the discretion of HHS from state allocations determined by a formula in law.
However, before these state allocations are made, the law contains a series of set-
aside provisions that reserve funds for specified activities.
Under the 1998 Head Start amendments (P.L. 105-285), up to $35 million of
total Head Start appropriations is reserved annually for transition-to-school grants;

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up to $5 million is reserved annually for national research on the impact of Head
Start; and $12 million in FY1999 and such sums as necessary thereafter is reserved
for other research, demonstration and evaluation activities, including longitudinal
studies.
Also of total Head Start appropriations, the Secretary must reserve 13% for use
in the following priority order:
! Indian and migrant Head Start programs, and services for children
with disabilities;
! payments to outlying territories, not to exceed one-half of 1% of the
total annual appropriation. The territories include Guam, American
Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands,
Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau;
! training and technical assistance (not less than 2% of the total annual
appropriation, of which at least $3 million must be related to family
literacy);
! discretionary payments made by the Secretary, including the costs
(other than federal salaries) of local program monitoring and
correcting deficiencies and conducting proceedings to terminate
Head Start grantees; and
! payments for research, demonstration and evaluation activities.
Of remaining Head Start appropriations (after reserving the amounts described
above and adjusting the prior year appropriation to reflect the percentage change in
the Consumer Price Index), “regular” Head Start funds are allotted among states
according to the following formula, which was established in the 1998 amendments:
! each state first receives an amount equal to the amount received by
grantees in that state for FY1998, and any amounts available above
the FY1998 level are distributed proportionately among states on the
basis of the number of children under 5 years old whose family
income is below the federal poverty line.
Although the amounts allocated according to the above formula are actually
distributed directly to local grantees, the Secretary may use a portion of these funds
to make grants to the states, to foster collaboration within the state among Head Start
and other activities designed to benefit low-income children and families. These
state collaboration grants typically range between $125,000 and $225,000 per state.
(See Table 3 at the end of this report for estimated state allocations for Head Start
for FY2003.)
President’s FY2004 Budget Request. The Administration’s budget for
FY2004 (released February 3, 2003) requests $6.816 billion for Head Start (of which
$1.4 billion would be advance appropriated for FY2005). The Administration states
that in FY2004 almost 923,000 children will receive Head Start services, including
62,000 in Early Head Start. Budget documents also state that the increased funding,
coupled with the President’s proposed changes allowing states to administer Head
Start in coordination with other preschool programs, will enable the program to
maintain current service levels and increase enrollment by up to 10,500 children.

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In addition, the President proposes to change current law’s set-aside for training
and technical assistance (T/TA) from at least 2% of the total Head Start
appropriation to up to 2%. According to the Administration, this change would
provide the Secretary with the discretionary authority to allocate Head Start funds
each year in order to maximize benefits to children and families. The budget also
explains that “in order to improve coordination between Head Start and other
Federal, State, and local programs affecting pre-school children, the President plans
to move responsibility for managing the Head Start program from the Department of
Health and Human Services to the Department of Education.”1 It proposes that this
transition begin in 2004, with the Department of Education assuming full
responsibility for the program in 2005.
FY2003 Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations. Fiscal year 2003 funding
for the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education is provided in the Consolidated
Appropriations Resolution, 2003 (P.L. 108-7), signed into law on February 20, 2003.
The law includes $6.668 billion for Head Start (of which $1.4 billion is advance
appropriated, to become available in FY2005). Unlike many other discretionary
programs funded under the law, Head Start is not subject to the across-the-board
rescission included in the law.2
Prior to the signing of P.L. 108-7, Congress passed a series of continuing
resolutions (CRs) extending funding for programs, including Head Start, into
FY2003. Prior to the CRs, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its
version of a Labor/HHS/Ed bill (S. 2766/S.Rept. 107-216). The Committee’s
proposed funding level for Head Start was $6.870 billion for FY2003. The House
introduced a version of its FY2003 Appropriations bill (H.R. 5320) for
Labor/HHS/ED. There was no committee action, and the bill requested the same
funding level for Head Start as that proposed by the President in his FY2003 budget.
President’s FY2003 Budget Request. The Administration’s FY2003
budget included a $130 million increase for Head Start, which would bring it to
$6.667 billion. Of that total, $1.4 billion would be advance appropriated for FY2004.
Similar to the FY2002 budget document, the FY2003 budget called for making
school readiness — pre-reading and numeracy skills — Head Start’s top priority.
Moreover, the Administration expressed support for a plan to move Head Start to the
Department of Education as part of the program’s reauthorization in 2003, and
highlighted that HHS and ED had formed a task force to assess ways to improve
Head Start and facilitate the transfer between agencies. The budget also maintained
support ($75 million) for ED’s Early Reading First program, to help prepare young
children to read in existing preschool and Head Start programs.
FY2002 Funding. On January 10, 2002, H.R. 3061, the bill making FY2002
appropriations for the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education, was signed into
law (P.L. 107-116). It included $6.538 billion for Head Start, of which $5.138 was
1 See Fiscal Year 2004 Budget of the U.S. Government: Analytical Perspectives, p. 251.
2 H.J.Res. 2, as amended and passed by the Senate, (and ultimately passed into law)
included S.Amdt. 188 (offered by Senator Dodd), which exempts the Head Start funding
from rescission.

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CRS-5
available in FY2002, and $1.4 billion in FY2003. The FY2002 total Head Start
appropriation exceeded the FY2001 level ($6.2 billion) by $338 million. It also was
greater than the amount requested by the President in his FY2002 budget ($6.32
billion). The Administration had asserted that its proposed increase would be used
to maintain current services and enrollment levels. Despite the Administration’s
intent to reverse the practice (which began in FY2000) of advance appropriating
funds for Head Start, the FY2002 appropriations bill reserved $1.4 billion of the
$6.538 billion appropriated to become available in FY2003. The advance funding
component has been used as a budgetary mechanism to spread out the obligation of
funds for the program, without having programmatic impacts.
FY2001 Funding. The FY2001 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 106-
554) appropriated $6.2 billion for the Head Start program. Of this amount, $4.8
billion was available for FY2001, and $1.4 billion became available in FY2002.
Eligibility. As authorized by law, HHS regulations require that at least 90%
of children enrolled by each Head Start grantee must come from families with
income at or below the official federal poverty guideline ($18,400 for a family of four
in 2003) or from families receiving welfare assistance. Up to 10% of the children
may be from families whose incomes exceed the poverty guideline. Regulations also
require grantees to reserve at least 10% of their slots for children with disabilities.
Head Start is authorized to serve children at any age prior to compulsory school
attendance; however, most children are 3- and 4-year-olds. However, the 1994
reauthorization did create the Early Head Start program, which serves children under
age 3. In FY2002, children under age 3 represented only 7% of total enrollment.
Under the 1998 amendments, a child who has been determined to be low-
income and who is participating in Head Start may continue to be considered low-
income for another program year. The 1998 amendments also provide grantees with
additional flexibility in determining family income and therefore, eligibility for
participation. Specifically, the amendments authorize grantees to consider family
income during the 12 months before the month in which an application is submitted,
or during the calendar year before the calendar year in which an application is
submitted.
Participation. Data from HHS show funded enrollment for Head Start in
FY2002 to have totaled 912,345 children (of whom about 63,000 were under age 3).3
This is an increase from the FY2001 level of 905,235, and the 857,664 total from
FY2000. It should be noted that “funded enrollment” refers to the number of Head
Start “slots” that are funded, not the total number of children served throughout the
year (accounting for turnover), which is higher. As stated in the FY2004 budget, the
Administration foresees almost 923,000 children receiving Head Start services in
2004 (of which approximately the same percentage will be in Early Head Start as in
FY2002).
3 Additional program data can be found on the HHS Head Start Bureau’s website
[http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/hsb/research/2003.htm]

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Table 2. Estimates of Head Start Populations
and Percent Served, FY2001
(number in thousands)
Population
Economically
FY2001
Percent
Age
March 2002
eligible 2001
Enrollment
served
Under 3
11,738
2,406
63
3%
Age 3
3,818
740
317
43%
Age 4
3,977
741
489
66%
Age 3-4
7,794
1,481
806
54%
Age 5 and above
7,813
1,441
36
3%
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) using data from the March
2002 Current Population Survey (CPS). Estimates of economic eligibility are based on the percentage
of children living in families with annual income below Federal Poverty Income Guidelines or in
families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), in 2001. Head Start enrollment
estimates are based on data and estimates from HHS.
Early Head Start. Early Head Start (EHS) was established in the 1994
reauthorization legislation (P.L. 103-252), to serve infants and toddlers who are
generally too young to participate in the regular Head Start program. The law
requires that a portion of Head Start’s total appropriation be set aside to fund the
EHS program. For FY1998, Congress earmarked more than was required by law for
EHS, and the statutory set-aside was increased in the 1998 amendments to Head
Start. One of the few legislative changes sought by the Clinton Administration,
during the 1998 debate on Head Start, was an increase in the EHS program. The
current law EHS set-asides are: 7.5% in FY1999, 8% in FY2000, 9% in FY2001,
and 10% in each of FY2002 and FY2003.
The first EHS grants were awarded in September 1995, and totaled $47 million.
In FY2000, $421 million was used to support nearly 600 projects in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These projects served approximately 45,000
low-income families with children under the age of three.
EHS grantees must design programs which respond to the strengths and needs
of individual families with services including education, in and out of the home;
home visits, especially for families with newborns and infants; parent education,
including parent-child activities; comprehensive health services, including services
to women during and after pregnancy; and ongoing parental support through case
management and peer groups. All programs must conduct an assessment of
community resources and needs and must ensure the recruitment and development
of high quality staff.
In addition to increasing EHS appropriations, the 1998 amendments also require
that an EHS research and evaluation plan be developed to identify successful
program models and variables contributing to program outcomes and to lay
groundwork for future longitudinal studies.

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President’s Head Start Proposals and Initiatives. On February 3, 2003,
alongside release of the President’s FY2004 Budget, the Administration issued a
press release announcing the President’s proposal to make changes to the Head Start
program.4 This was followed by a White House document outlining the
Administration’s assessment of the current status of the Head Start program, and its
plans for the program in the future.5 The Administration states that the top goal of
the Head Start reauthorization this year should be to improve both Head Start and
other preschool programs to ensure that children are prepared to enter kindergarten.
The President believes states should have the opportunity to administer the program,
provided they demonstrate how Head Start will be coordinated with other preschool
programs and services to emphasize developing skills and behaviors including
language development; pre-reading skills; numeracy; and social and emotional
competence, while meeting state-established accountability standards.
Under the President’s proposal, interested states would submit a plan for the
approval of both HHS and the Department of Education, in which they outline: state
preschool goals and activities; a state accountability program; an explanation of how
the current level of enrollment of Head Start eligible 3- and 4-year olds will be
maintained (if not exceeded); information regarding the most recent year’s spending
on Head Start and state preschool programs, and assurances that this level will be at
a minimum maintained; plans for assuring professional development for staff; and
the plans for coordination of programs and funding (state and federal) for the purpose
of promoting school readiness. Programs specifically mentioned are: Head Start,
Early Head Start, Title I preschool, the special education preschool program (IDEA),
state-funded preschool, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant. The press
release does not explicitly mention the planned transfer of the program from HHS to
the Department of Education, however, as stated above, this proposal is included in
the FY2004 Budget.
Aside from proposals that require Congressional approval, the Administration
has moved ahead with two additional efforts that are in keeping with the
Administration’s Good Start, Grow Smart: Early Childhood initiative, but that do not
require legislative changes to the Head Start Act. One is the Strategic Teacher
Education Program, also known as Project STEP, described by the Head Start Bureau
as “a comprehensive, multi-faceted, sequential professional development endeavor
to ensure teachers use research-based strategies to implement early and emergent
literacy.” As part of this development, during the summer and fall of 2002, 3,000
Head Start staff and 100 state child care administrators received 32 hours of training
in strategies to support children’s emerging literacy. Those who were trained are
expected to serve as “mentor coaches” for staff within their respective Head Start
programs.
4 For additional information, the press release from the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) is available at [http://www.dhhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030203.html]
5 This document, entitled “Head Start Policy Book” on the White House web site, can be
read at [http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/earlychildhood/hspolicybook/summary.html]

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The second effort is the development of a national reporting system that can be
used to assess the effectiveness of Head Start programs in achieving successful
outcomes for children in terms of school readiness — particularly the areas of literacy
and number knowledge. This national reporting system is scheduled to be
implemented this fall, and will reportedly assess Head Start 4- and 5-year olds twice
a year on educational performance measures — using indicators that were included
in legislation as part of the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start.
History of the Proposed Transfer of Head Start to the Department
of Education. During his 2000 Presidential campaign, President Bush proposed
moving the Head Start program from HHS to the Department of Education as part
of an effort to prioritize the education (school-readiness) component of Head Start
over the health, nutrition, and social service components of the program. The
President proposed a Reading First reform agenda aimed at making pre-reading and
numeracy skills Head Start’s top priority. By also supporting an early childhood
reading initiative in the Department of Education, along with a reading program
focused on children in kindergarten through second grade who are at risk of falling
behind, the President’s goal is to ensure that young children participating in existing
preschool and Head Start programs are able to read by the time they reach third
grade.
Many Head Start advocates believe that the Head Start program should remain
in HHS. Because Head Start offers a wide variety of services beyond traditional
education, there is concern that transferring the program to the Department of
Education could restrict Head Start to a narrow, classroom program, without the
broad set of human services currently provided. Opponents of the shift further
suggest that moving the program from an agency where children receive
comprehensive services, to one focused on education, would compromise the
parental and community action strengths of Head Start. An aide to the President
assures that the proposed move is not intended to interrupt any of the social service
components, but to stress the most important part of Head Start, which the President
believes is literacy development. The President has described the proposed move as
consistent with his priorities, and hopes that moving the program to the Department
of Education will increase the chances of making every child a proficient reader by
third grade. President Bush is relying on research findings which show that children
taught pre-reading and math skills in preschool, enter school ready to learn reading
and mathematics. Some of those in favor of keeping Head Start in HHS argue that
Head Start already currently focuses on getting children ready for school, including
readiness in language and early literacy.
There is a history of proposed transfers of the Head Start program. In 1978,
President Carter proposed to transfer Head Start to the Department of Education.
Edward Zigler, a noted architect of Head Start, was one of the most ardent opponents
of the transfer, for the reasons cited above. While the Reagan Administration tried
to include Head Start in a block grant, up until now, no president since Carter had
recommended a transfer of Head Start to the Department of Education. Based on
past history, it is likely that the Bush Administration will face tough opposition if
this issue is debated in the 2003 reauthorization. As mentioned earlier, however, the
House reauthorization bill (H.R. 2210) does not include the proposal to transfer Head
Start to the Department of Education.

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Reauthorization Bills in 2003. The Head Start Act is due to be reauthorized
this year, and at this point, legislation has been introduced in the House, and
approved in full committee. The bill has not yet gone to the House floor.
The School Readiness Act of 2003 (H.R. 2210). This bill to reauthorize
the Head Start Act was introduced in the House by Representative Castle on May 2,
2003, with eight Republican co-sponsors. The originally introduced bill has
subsequently been amended at both the subcommittee and full committee level. H.R.
2210 (as amended by the full Committee on Education and the Workforce on June
19, 2003) includes two titles; the first would amend sections of the current Head
Start law, and the second would introduce a new option for eight qualifying states to
administer their own federal Head Start funds. (The bill as originally introduced
would have provided this option to all qualifying states, but as amended in
subcommittee, and maintained by the full committee, this option would be limited
to eight qualifying states over the five year period of the legislation.) H.R. 2210 was
amended and ordered to be reported from the full Committee on Education and the
Workforce with a partisan vote of 27 (Republicans) to 20 (Democrats).
H.R. 2210 would authorize an appropriation for Head Start in FY2004 of $6.87
billion, and such sums as necessary in fiscal years 2005-2008. If appropriated, this
would reflect a $200 million increase above the FY2003 funding level of $6.67
billion. The President’s budget request for FY2004 included $6.816 billion for Head
Start, which is $54 million less than the amount H.R. 2210 would authorize.
Major features of the bill’s Title I (“Program Improvements”) include:
increased credentials for Head Start teachers; a 2% cap on the percentage of funds
to be reserved for training and technical assistance (under current law, the floor is set
at 2%); increased requirements to promote collaboration and coordination among
early childhood programs; a 60% set-aside of excess appropriation funds for quality
improvement; a requirement that at least 10% of the total Head Start appropriation
be reserved for Early Head Start; and new language that would allow faith-based
Head Start programs to discriminate in hiring, based on religion.
The proposal to increase credentials for Head Start teachers would require that
by 2008, 50% of Head Start teachers have a B.A. or advanced degree in early
childhood education. (Current law required that 50% of Head Start teachers
nationwide have an A.A. or above in early childhood education by 2003. That
requirement was met.) In addition, within 3 years after the date of enactment, this
legislation would require that the Secretary require all Head Start teachers in center-
based programs, hired following the date of enactment, to have an A.A. degree or
above in early childhood education, or be enrolled in a program of study leading to
an A.A. degree in early childhood education, with an agreement to complete the
program within 3 years of being hired.
Title II (“State Demonstration Program”) of the bill contains provisions that
would allow up to eight qualifying states to participate in “state demonstration
programs” in which their allocation of federal Head Start funding would be
administered by the state (as opposed to current law’s system of direct federal to local
grantees). To qualify, a state must have an existing state-supported system of public-
pre-kindergarten; standards for school readiness that are aligned with state

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kindergarten through twelfth grade; prior year state and local spending at a level of
at least 50% of the federal Head Start funds to be allocated to the state; and an
established “means” for interagency coordination and collaboration. States would
need to demonstrate that their standards “generally meet or exceed the standards that
ensure the quality and effectiveness of programs operated by Head Start agencies.”
A local grantee currently receiving funds would continue to receive funds, from
the participating state, for at least three years after that state receives approval to
participate in the program (assuming the grantee has no uncorrected deficiencies
identified in monitoring reports from the most recent 5-year period).
1998 Reauthorization. Although Head Start has traditionally enjoyed
widespread support, the program has not been without criticism. Concern has been
expressed about the quality of services and the program’s potential for sustaining
positive effects over the long-term. The 1998 amendments to Head Start, included
in the legislation reauthorizing the program in 1998, continue to emphasize the need
for quality improvement.
The 1998 reauthorization law (P.L. 105-285) increased the amount of new
appropriations that must be used for quality improvement activities, at least until
FY2003, and slows down the pace at which the program can expand. The law
requires HHS to develop specific education performance standards, and establishes
teacher and staff training related to these standards as a priority use of quality
improvement funds. The law encourages payment of higher salaries for staff with
higher levels of education and training, and requires every Head Start classroom to
have a teacher with demonstrated competency to perform certain functions related
to school readiness and child development. The legislation also requires that, by
September 30, 2003, half of all Head Start teachers nationwide must have at least an
associate, bachelors, or graduate degree in early childhood education or development,
or in a related field with experience teaching preschool children. According to HHS
program information data, this requirement was met in the 2002 program year,
reaching just over 50% — up from 37% holding a postsecondary degree in 1999.
The law further requires HHS to develop results-based performance measures, and
to review the effectiveness of individual programs in meeting those measures.
Long-Term Benefits. During the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, several
congressional committees expressed interest in a rigorous evaluation component for
Head Start. While there is widespread agreement that Head Start produces
significant short-term gains, there continues to be disagreement over the program’s
long-term benefits. Several studies in the 1980s and early 1990s found a “fade-out”
of Head Start benefits for children during their later school years, but some
researchers have questioned whether this apparent fade-out was due to the children’s
preschool experience or the poor quality of the schooling they later received. A 1995
report by the Packard Foundation presents evidence that high-quality early childhood
education for low-income children, including Head Start, does produce long-term
educational, economic, and societal gains. Head Start programs included in the
review generally showed significant favorable effects on grade retention and special
education placement. Multi-service Head Start programs did not fare as well as
better-funded public preschool programs in overall effectiveness measures, although

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the report noted that Head Start participants tend to be more disadvantaged, so that
comparisons could be affected by preexisting conditions.
GAO published a Head Start literature review in 1997, in which it concluded
that an extensive body of literature exists, but the research is inadequate to draw
conclusions about the impact of Head Start on a national basis (Head Start:
Research Provides Little Information on Impact of Current Program, HEHS-97-59,
April 1997). GAO noted that most of the studies were on cognitive outcomes and
did not evaluate such program components as nutrition or health-related services.
Moreover, the quality of some of the research was poor and none of the studies used
a nationally representative sample that would enable conclusions to be drawn about
the national program. However, GAO pointed out that HHS currently has a variety
of research and evaluation activities underway that will eventually produce
information about the program’s impact.
The 1998 amendments to Head Start mandate and reserve funds for additional
studies on the impact of Head Start. The law also requires all Head Start agencies
to coordinate with the local education agency and community schools, to develop
procedures for the transition of Head Start children into kindergarten and elementary
school. The law also requires HHS to provide technical assistance to Head Start
programs to help ensure school readiness of children and to promote family literacy.
FACES and Head Start Impact Study. Two evaluation efforts underway
which are designed to measure the effectiveness of the Head Start program are the
Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) and the National Impact Study.
FACES, initially launched in 1997 (with the most recent cohort starting in Fall
of 2000), is a periodic, longitudinal study of successive nationally representative
samples of children and families in Head Start programs. The purpose of the study
is to provide descriptions of the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical
development of Head Start children; the characteristics, well-being, and
accomplishments of families; the observed quality of Head Start classrooms; and the
characteristics, needs, and opinions of Head Start teachers and other program staff.
Children and parents are studied at entry into the program, followed for one or two
years of program participation, and followed-up at the end of the child’s kindergarten
year.6
The National Impact Study, mandated by the 1998 reauthorization law (P.L.
105-285), began in FY2001, and is designed to provide a national analysis of the
impact of Head Start on the development and school-readiness of low-income
children. The study requires random assignment of children to Head Start and non-
Head Start groups, with attention being paid to the type and quality of other care and
services that the control group receives. Data collection began in the Fall of 2002,
and results of the study are not expected until 2006.
6 For information on recent findings from the FACES study research team, see “What Are
We Learning About Program Quality and Child Development?” by Ruth Hubbell, available
at: [http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/core/ongoing_research/faces/nhsa/nhsa_home.html]

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Coordination with Child Care. Particularly in light of welfare reform
requirements instituted in 1996, which have caused more parents to work or
participate in training activities, Head Start is working to respond to the needs of
families for full-time child care. In recent years, HHS has used some of the Head
Start expansion funds to build partnerships with child care providers to deliver full-
day, full-year services. The 1998 amendments also were intended to encourage
collaboration between child care and Head Start and to promote the development of
unified early education and child care plans that will increase the availability of full-
time services. The law authorizes the Secretary of HHS to provide supplemental
collaboration funds to states that undertake such unified planning or other innovative
collaborative initiatives.
The 1998 amendments also direct the Secretary to identify barriers to
collaboration and to develop a mechanism for resolving programmatic conflicts, and
to provide technical assistance related to the provision of full-day, full-year services.
In addition, factors to be considered in awarding Head Start expansion grants, under
the 1998 amendments, include the applicant’s ability to coordinate with other
community child care providers and preschool programs to provide full-day, full-year
services. Moreover, the law authorizes Head Start agencies to charge fees for
extended-day services provided to children, if necessary as part of a collaboration
with another agency.

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CRS-13
Table 3. Head Start FY2003 State Allocations (Estimates)
State
Amount
State
Amount
Alabama
$102,170,000
Nevada
20,184,000
Alaska
12,348,000
New Hampshire
13,119,000
Arizona
98,863,000
New Jersey
127,694,000
Arkansas
62,252,000
New Mexico
50,175,000
California
817,556,000
New York
426,655,000
Colorado
67,038,000
North Carolina
135,337,000
Connecticut
50,990,000
North Dakota
16,359,000
Delaware
12,534,000
Ohio
241,768,000
District of Columbia
24,576,000
Oklahoma
78,457,000
Florida
257,448,000
Oregon
58,254,000
Georgia
164,995,000
Pennsylvania
223,524,000
Hawaii
22,419,000
Puerto Rico
239,018,000
Idaho
22,099,000
Rhode Island
21,611,000
Illinois
265,008,000
South Carolina
80,086,000
Indiana
90,451,000
South Dakota
18,442,000
Iowa
50,491,000
Tennessee
114,604,000
Kansas
48,873,000
Texas
463,434,000
Kentucky
105,555,000
Utah
37,000,000
Louisiana
137,766,000
Vermont
13,285,000
Maine
27,198,000
Virginia
97,285,000
Maryland
76,437,000
Washington
99,204,000
Massachusetts
106,278,000
West Virginia
49,603,000
Michigan
229,824,000
Wisconsin
88,690,000
Minnesota
71,045,000
Wyoming
12,122,000
Mississippi
158,384,000
Virgin Islands
10,077,000
Missouri
115,535,000
Outer Pacific
15,244,000
Montana
20,522,000
American Indian
185,452,000
Nebraska
35,276,000
Migrant Programs
263,002,000
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) based on the Department of
Health and Human (HHS) Budget Justifications for FY2004.
Note: State allocations do not include funding for technical assistance ($170 million) and Research,
Development and Evaluation ($20 million). Total FY2003 Head Start funding= $6.668 billion.

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