Political Quotes

“I rise today to address a potential problem hidden deep in the President's budget. The budget says that the President is seeking to give States the opportunity to exercise more control over Head Start and that he would like to move responsibility of Head Start from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Education. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to many listening tonight, but I believe that it will have a damaging effect on our most vulnerable children. They say this change is intended to focus Head Start on school readiness and teacher training. Well, for those who do not know what Head Start is, that may seem like an admirable goal. Head Start already does that and I agree that these are important goals and should be worked on continuously. Moving the program to the Department of Education will fundamentally alter the philosophy of the program. Head Start is already a readiness program and more. It is a program that prepares the whole child for life. The program teaches families about proper nutrition. It also provides health and mental health screenings and other important services that many of these children would not have if Head Start did not exist. It is important to remember why we created Head Start to begin with under the War on Poverty. Poor children and the children of working-class families did not have the opportunity to have a preschool experience before going into kindergarten.”