Head Start Measure Expected to Launch New Era for Program

Lawmakers are hailing a long-awaited measure to renew the federal Head Start preschool program as an example of the kind of legislation that can emerge from bipartisan consensus and compromise. But crafting the reauthorization of the Head Start Act, which has been pending since 2003, wasn’t always harmonious.

“This process in working on Head Start has shown Congress at its best,” Rep. Dale E. Kildee, D-Mich., the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees early-childhood education, said during a floor debate this month. “This is one of our better days, [and] one of our better bills. ... We’ve had differences. We resolved those differences.”

The bill, approved overwhelmingly by both the House and the Senate on Nov. 14, seeks to address concerns about mismanagement in some local Head Start programs by bolstering accountability requirements for grantees, improve program quality in part by requiring more teachers to get bachelor’s degrees, and expand eligibility for the program by...