[The_Rorschach]

Talk about propaganda. It hardly affects the majority staff members involved in the program, let alone all of them I sometimes wonder at the intellegence of people. . .

The above mentioned House bill reflects only upon religious organizations involved in the Head Start pre-school program to be exempt from federal non-discrimination hiring policies. I.E. they cannot disqualify someone based upon religious orientation, however, they can hire someone else because of it -As quite a number of local Head Start programs currently operate in "houses of worship" or are operated by local church groups, this provision does make some sense. It DOES not reflect Head Start programs which are not controlled by religiously oriented organizations. I doubt neither the parents, directors, children or staff of such places have as great a problem with this legislation as the ACLU, and for that reason, debates such as this should be looked upon with sharp cynicism.

The bill would also allow up to eight states to manage Head Start so they could coordinate the program, and merge its money, with other childhood education efforts to attain greater results for the children involved. Care providers now get the money directly, and greater coordination could drive up academic achievement. Claims that it will weaken educational standards are silly at best as too many Head Start children in the past have entered into schools at a status considered below average in early writing, math, letter recognition and vocabulary. To further ensure excellence, the bill guarantees that those currently funded will see their monies disappear if they fail to meet the bill's standards for quality.