Castor Celebrates Success of Head Start on Eve of Reathorization in Congress

Press Release

CASTOR CELEBRATES SUCCESS OF HEAD START ON EVE OF REAUTHORIZATION IN CONGRESS

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor today distributed books to Head Start students at the West Tampa Head Start Center to celebrate the great success of Head Start over the past four decades and pledge support for the congressional vote this week to strengthen our commitment. Head Start is a holistic approach to preparing children for success by providing a high quality early education program that supports children's cognitive, social, and emotional development.

"Head Start is the premiere early education program in America. It has played an important role in improving the lives of more than 20 million children and thousands of families in my community," said Castor. "To narrow the achievement gap that exists today between low-income children and their more affluent peers, we must improve Head Start's effectiveness, support teachers, and increase enrollment."

Over 5,300 children are served by Head Start in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee Counties, but many thousands more are on waiting lists or eligible. With no increase in funding since 2003 and inflation going up, it is getting harder for Head Start providers to maintain their well-known high quality services.

Last year Castor persuaded county commissioners to provide funds to reduce the long waiting list in Hillsborough County and make up for the money that the federal government was not providing. Louis Finney, director of Hillsborough County's Head Start Division, said that being flat funded has had a big impact. "Our expenses have grown 10 percent, and we are now serving more kids," Finney said. "Also, we have 3,000 kids in Head Start but only 103 in Early Head Start. We are not capturing the young mothers like we would like. And the income requirements are still too high. Some parents cannot enroll because they make $18,000 for a family of two, and the required income is $15,000."

In Florida, there are over one million children under the age of 5. Head Start serves approximately 40,000 of them every year. These children come from low-income families and qualify at the poverty level. The bill raises that level to 130 percent to help more families get access to high quality early care and education for their children.

This week the House of Representatives will consider and likely pass H.R. 1429, the Head Start Improvement Act of 2007. Castor will play an instrumental role in managing floor debate on Wednesday as a member of the Rules Committee.

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