Head Start was a good start; now let’s go green

To foster learning, we must ensure that all children have both a solid foundation upon which to build their education and a solid foundation in which to receive it. Children who receive comprehensive services in their first five years gain a distinct advantage in developing social skills and succeeding in school. It also is critical to learning that school buildings provide safe, healthy, and technologically advanced environments.

President Lyndon Johnson established Head Start as an indispensable tool in the War on Poverty. A teacher by profession, I immediately recognized the program as a progressive and innovative accomplishment. Head Start and — more recently — Early Head Start have provided comprehensive developmental education, health, nutrition and social services to more than 24 million low-income children from birth to age 5 and their families. Although Head Start today serves about 900,000 children, including more than 60,000 in Early Head Start, that represents less than half of those eligible for Head Start and only 3 percent for Early Head Start.

Unfortunately, at the start of this Congress, we had not reauthorized this very effective and popular program since 1998. In 2007, when I became chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, I made improving and reauthorizing Head Start one of my top priorities. I introduced, and the House and Senate passed overwhelmingly, the bipartisan Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act, which became law on December 12, 2007.

In 1965, when we first enacted Head Start, we knew little, by today’s standards, about children’s brain development. The program turned out to be ahead of its time. The most important years in brain development correspond with those when Head Start and Early Head Start provide services. The more we learn about early childhood development, the more we understand how essential these programs are to the children and families they serve.

Head Start children show significant gains in vocabulary, early writing and letter recognition; display improved social behavior; and are more likely to graduate from high school. They are less likely to need special education later, repeat a grade or commit crimes in adolescence. Head Start also empowers parents to participate in their children’s development and education and improves parenting practices.

The recent reauthorization retained and enhanced the many successful aspects of the existing Head Start program and made necessary improvements to ensure continued progress.

The Act prioritizes new funding for Early Head Start, which serves children from birth through age 3, to ensure that they receive the services they need during the most important stages of brain development.

Nothing is more critical to a child’s success than a great teacher, and the law ensures that, by 2013, at least half of Head Start teachers nationwide will have bachelor’s degrees. It also prioritizes funding for teacher salaries and professional development.

While Head Start provides the foundation on which children’s educations begin, the school buildings that they enter after Head Start either can provide a nurturing environment or send students a message that their education is not that important to society. They either attract good teachers or drive them away. While Congress and President Clinton provided $1.2 billion for emergency school repairs in 2001, President Bush has not provided direct funding for general school construction in any of his eight budgets.

That is why I joined with Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) to introduce H.R. 3021, the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act.  Last month, the House passed the bill with strong bipartisan support. It would provide $6.4 billion in 2009 to help ensure that students, teachers and principals have state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly learning spaces. The bill would help our teachers teach and our students learn, and it would create jobs for thousands of workers. H.R. 3021 would also save energy and protect the environment by ensuring that the majority of funds are used for green building projects.

In its most recent infrastructure report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave American schools a ‘D’. Children understand that when their school is crumbling around them, while children a few miles away are in a beautiful school, society has made the choice not to give them the kind of school building they deserve. That is not a message we can afford to send them.

We must send every child the message that we truly value every one of them by providing the resources and facilities necessary to ensure a high-quality learning environment.

And, this bill would send that message. As a former teacher, a father and a grandfather, I can say with great conviction that a student’s confidence that their parents, teachers and community are wholly behind their success goes a great distance in propelling them to their goals.

Kildee chairs the Committee on Education and Labor’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.