Head Start: Raising standards

During the past year, Congress and President Bush raised the standards for Head Start. That decision threatens to leave a Washington state program for young children even further behind the national model.

A proposal in the Washington Legislature would raise the state's commitment significantly. Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, has a plan intended to lead to creation of a unified Head Start program, lifting the state's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) to the national levels for support services and hours of schooling and support services.

A version of Goodman's proposal, SHB3168, received unanimous, bipartisan support from the House Early Learning & Children's Services Committee last week. It deserves enactment by the full Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire, who has made early learning a focus of her administration.

As D.C. politicians have shown, matching higher standards with adequate funding isn't easy. Congress and the president have stumbled on that.

Goodman said the creation of the Washington Head Start program could require an extra $40 million to $50 million every two years. Head Start programs have higher teacher-training requirements and offer about 50 percent more instruction time than ECEAP sites. But the bill only directs the state Department of Early Learning to develop a plan and cost estimates for integrating the existing Head Start programs with Washington's smaller early childhood program by 2010. The Legislature also might spend up to $7.5 million to raise some ECEAP centers to Head Start standards immediately.

The department study, which would be completed this year, will look at areas of Head Start where the state needs to preserve ECEAP's flexibility. Goodman said rural areas need programs that serve smaller populations on differing schedules. And tribal programs must fit their traditional cultures and child-rearing practices.

With a little flexibility, though, establishing and funding a state Head Start will strengthen the academic and social foundations for thousands of lower-income children. While schools haven't always found ways to maintain all of Head Start students' academic gains, common sense and solid research suggest students do much better in life. The state will benefit from raising its early childhood goals to Head Start levels.