Krista Kafer, The Heritage Foundation
October 29, 2003
Prospects are rapidly dimming for Congress to subject the storied Head Start program to a much-needed makeover during the present re-authorization cycle. The House retreated big-time from its initial bold proposal-and from the Bush Administration's still better one. The Senate is now retreating farther. Thanks to the program's iconic status, shrill cheerleaders and adamant interest groups (mostly dominated by child development sorts and current Head Start workers), there seems to be no political payoff from changing the program in fundamental ways despite overwhelming evidence that this is what it needs. Krista Kafer's new Heritage Foundation backgrounder explains all this, doing an especially fine job of showing why reforms are needed and sketching the most important of them. These seven pages are worth your while and can be found at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/BG1701.cfm.
