Senator Tom Harkin Stops By Iowa City to Show Support For Head Start Programs

The federally funded Head Start program could soon face major cut-backs if some politicians in Washington get their way.

In February the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget bill that would have drastically cut funding for the program.  The Senate has since shot down the measure, but the budget debate goes on.  Thursday, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin traveled back to Iowa to show his support for the Head Start program in Iowa City.

“It would close down every head start center within this region,” said Senator Harkin, speaking at the Head Start facility on 318 East Bloomington Street.  “1,800 kids in Iowa would be thrown out of Head Start, that is totally unacceptable.”

Head start is a program designed to help low-income and disadvantaged children with early childhood education.  Harkin, the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee, said he has an obligation to make this type of schooling available to all children.

“This is one area that we can't cut, cutting Head Start is like eating your seed corn,” he said.

Parents who have grown to rely on Head Start are also concerned with the increased talk about cutting back the program.

“It's very important, because without it I don't know what I would do?” said Lacresia White, a mother of two.

White said her daughter attended the program before graduating to kindergarten.  Her 4-year-old son, Keith, now spends about 40 hours a week at Head Start while Lacresia takes colleges classes and goes to work.

“Play for a child is how they learn, is how they develop, it's how they grow, it's how they learn about the world around them,” said Christi Regan, Director of the HACAP Head Start programs.

Republicans argue that Head Start is a program that has shown mixed levels of success.  They also contend that the cuts are necessary to balance the budget.

“Republicans will say we (America) are hurting so bad that the budget trumps all other things,” said Tim Hagle, Republican Expert and professor at the University of Iowa.  “The bottom line, they say, is everything has to face cuts.”

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