Published: August 24, 2003
Head Start
Head Start was ahead of its time in 1965, when it began as a preschool “ready-to-learn” program for disadvantaged families, offering them a program that addressed the needs of the “whole child”—developmentally-appropriate preschool programs, help with immunizations and access to health and dental care, nutrition information and parental involvement and guidance. Some 20 million children have graduated from Head Start.
| Head Start:
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This year’s effort to reauthorize Head Start
has been highly contentious, partly because of efforts
to shift control over federal funding for the program
to the states. The School Readiness Act to reauthorize
Head Start was approved by a margin of only one vote
(217-216) in the House of Representatives on July
25, 2003. On the Senate side, Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH),
Chairman of the Health Education, Labor and Pension
Committee, has indicated that any Senate bill will
not be modeled after the legislation passed by the
House. Gregg’s committee is expected to “mark-up”
its own Head Start reauthorization bill in September.
The National Head Start
Association [2] and other child and education advocates
warn that the House proposal to reduce federal oversight
would allow states to avoid quality and accountability
standards and would threaten Head Start's comprehensive
approach, with its emphasis on health care, teacher
quality, and parent participation.
Special Education
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
is both a civil rights law guaranteeing a free appropriate
public education in the least restrictive environment
to students with disabilities and a federal grant
program to help schools pay for the extra costs of
educating children who need special services. Before
the law, over a million students with disabilities
were excluded from public schools, and another 3.5
million did not receive appropriate services. Today
the great majority of children and youth with disabilities
are educated in regular classrooms, and some six and
a half million students with disabilities receive
special education services.
| IDEA:
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An IDEA reauthorization bill passed the House on April 30 on a mostly partisan vote. In June, a Senate bill passed the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee with unanimous, bipartisan support. The Committee-approved bill doesn’t tackle the tough issue of federal funding levels, leaving that for the full Senate, which is expected to take up the bill in September.
Advocates are in general much happier with the provisions
in the Senate proposals than in the House-approved
IDEA reauthorization. The Council for Exceptional
Children is one group that is following the bill closely.
http://www.cec.sped.org/
School Lunch and Beyond
Congress is set to rewrite the regulations governing
some of the most basic and successful federal nutrition
programs for low-income children—the ones providing
lunches and breakfasts in schools; snacks and suppers
for kids in child care and after-school programs;
and summer meals when school is out.
| Child Nutrition:
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On July 16 the House Subcommittee on Education Reform
of the Committee on Education and the Workforce held
first hearing on the reauthorization of the Child
Nutrition Act of 1966 and the National School Lunch
Act. Also, several child nutrition bills have been
introduced in the Senate to improve the quality and
access to nutritious food.
The Food
Research Action Council [5] is a good source for more
information on all federal food programs:
Media Ownership
Amid some evidence that consolidated ownership of
mass media results in fewer choices and less quality
children’s programming, along with an increase
in programming many find inappropriate for children,
Congress is considering action to overturn a June,
2003 decision by the Federal Communications Commission
that is widely expected to increase the already intense
consolidation of media markets.
| Media Ownership: |
A Senate bill seeking to overturn a June, 2003 decision
by the Federal Communications Commission was approved
by the Commerce Committee just a few days after the
FCC vote. Similar bills are under consideration in
the House.
The Media
Access Project [8] has background on this issue.
Check out the Connect
for Kids Weekly [9] for a more comprehensive overview
of the Congressional agenda and kids’ issues.
http://www.connectforkids.org/node/495
Links:
[1] http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?doc_id=170757
[2] http://www.nhsa.org
[3] http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?doc_id=176252
[4] http://216.198.222.116/childnutrition/ChildNutritionHome.htm
[5] http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/federal_index.html
[6] http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?doc_id=145016
[7] http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?doc_id=180109
[8] http://www.mediaaccess.org/programs/diversity/index.html
[9] http://www.connectforkids.org//newsletter-url1571/newsletter-url.htm