Wait Continues for Head Start Program

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is ready to adopt the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget package, but some officials are unsettled by the lack of funding for the expansion of Head Start program, which currently has hundreds of students on the waiting list.

Through a mix of county, state and federal funding, Head Start provides free pre-kindergarten classes to students from low-income families, giving them the extra attention they need to be on par with their peers when they enter the Fairfax County Public School system.

Roughly 1,500 kids are currently enrolled in the program — but more than 800 others are waiting.

The program won’t receive any additional funding in this year’s budget because of worries that more funds will be lost in the sequester.

During a markup session Tuesday, Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) said she and her colleagues needed to sit down with the School Board as soon as possible and figure out a solution. Hudgins will introduce a resolution during the Board’s April 30 meeting to make that meeting happen.

Hudgins’ resolution will attempt to hold the two Boards to formulating a plan that will dissolve the waiting list by 2018.

Kids needed to be ready to enter kindergarten or the whole system will suffer, she said.

“This is not about a few dollars that we shove around,” she said.

Supervisor Jeff McKay (D-Lee) agreed that something needed to be done, whether it was the expansion of Head Start or the founding of a new program that would get kids the pre-kindergarten services they needed.

“There’s 800-plus kids who aren’t going to get head start this year,” he said. “I don’t want it to be 800 again next year and I think we need a plan to deal with that.”

The School Board’s proposed budget had $3 million earmarked in order to get 200 kids off of the waiting list, School Board Member Pat Hynes said.

But the county's budget gives the school system less than School Board Members asked for, making the search for funds more difficult.

“We are still going to try to find that money,” she said. “But of course it’s gotten a lot harder.”

Hynes said officials would look at trying to accommodate children through both Head Start and other pre-school programs.

“I think both Boards are behind it in concept,” she said. "We just need to figure out where to find the money and how to spend it as soon as possible to get those kids off the waiting list.”

Part of the problem is there’s not enough room for all of the Head Start students, Hynes said. A big piece of the $3 million schools officials were hoping for would have gone to finding adequate facilities.

“One of the things that we might be looking for is partners in the community,” she said, adding that churches had expressed interest. 

The board will continue discussing the issue this spring.

What do you think should be done with the Head Start program? Tell us in the comments.