Dan Kildee: “I don't question the motives of Mr. Mica, but his amendment would jeopardize program quality by speeding up the deadline…”

“I don't question the motives of Mr. Mica, but his amendment would jeopardize program quality by speeding up the deadline for the 50 percent of the Head Start teachers having their bachelor's degrees. Budgets have really forced Head Start centers to make very difficult, sometime impossible decisions to reduce services or to serve fewer children. And I fear that the Mica amendment would exacerbate the hard choices which Head Start programs have faced over recent years because this Congress has not appropriated the kind of money we need. The bill that came out of committee, by 42-1, establishes, I think, a rather reasonable and ambitious time line for 50 percent of our Head Start teachers to attain their bachelor's degrees. Under this time line, the bill ensures that Congress can provide the necessary funding to achieve this goal. We have to, as I think we have done in this bill which came out of committee, we have to balance the improvements in the program with the real resources. If we had unlimited resources, we could do all these things. But I think the bill balances the improvements with the resources.”