Hill Hearings Focus on Head Start Finances

Preschool Program’s Reauthorization Spurs Dueling Web Sites

Washington

The pending reauthorization of Head Start this year is causing long-term concerns about the federal preschool program to bubble to the surface, amid an all-out battle between those who want to overhaul the 40-year-old program and those who say that, in most cases, it works well.

Last week, members of both the House and the Senate called for better financial oversight of Head Start, during hearings held to explore the findings of a recent Government Accountability Office report critical of federal supervision of the program. Earlier, House Republicans, who are calling for changes to the program, and the Head Start Association, an advocacy group that represents Head Start parents and teachers, unveiled dueling Web sites providing information on the program.

And the battle is likely to get even messier as the real work of the reauthorization...