Bush Signs Head Start, With Qualms

President Bush last week signed into law a long-awaited bill reauthorizing Head Start for five years, but he criticized the measure for terminating a system of tests for children in the federal preschool program, and because it does not include language that would permit religiously affiliated Head Start grantees to take applicants’ faith into account in hiring.

“I am deeply disappointed that the bill ends the National Reporting System , our only tool to examine consistently how Head Start children are performing in programs across the nation,” the president said in a Dec. 12 statement , our only tool to examine consistently how Head Start children are performing in programs across the nation,” the president said in a Dec. 12 statement, referring to the tests first given to pupils in 2003 that the reauthorized law now prohibits. “I am also disappointed that the bill fails to include my proposal to protect faith-based organizations’ religious- hiring autonomy.”

The White House hadn’t, however, threatened a veto of the Head Start measure, which garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress. The bill passed the House by a vote of 381-36 on Nov. 14. Later that day, the Senate approved it, 95-0. ( "Head Start Measure Expected to Launch New Era for Program," ...