Steven Holt: “for almost 40 years Head Start has assisted low-income, preschool children and their families, establishing a…”

“for almost 40 years Head Start has assisted low-income, preschool children and their families, establishing a comprehensive, early learning environment addressing a variety of social and medical needs. Certainly in my district, as in districts all over the country, Head Start has been a tremendous success: IQ gains, reading and writing and math skills improved, high school graduation, significantly greater; the need for special education, reduced; crime, reduced. So if it is so good, why overhaul it? If one wants to improve it, we can do that. But one should review it in a bipartisan way. This is not bipartisan. There is nothing bipartisan here. And this is not a debate. No Member will be persuaded, no vote will be changed. The Republicans are foisting a block grant program on the country on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. And you know what a block grant program is. It is a pot of money that goes to the State with the message ``This is for early education. You know what to do with it.'' Well, some States know what to do with it, and some States do not. The block grant approach is flawed and it is illogical. It guts quality comprehensive services, primary health care, dental care, mental health services. The block grant approach weakens performance standards, it sets no minimum thresholds for school readiness standards, teacher-student ratios, classroom size or curriculum content. It weakens oversight and evaluation.”