Idaho Head Start behind

Many Idaho children from low-income families are not benefiting from a federal program specifically made to help them, a recent study found.

The study, conducted by the National Institute for Early Education Research, a unit of the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, examines how effective Head Start and Early Head Start are in each of the 50 states.

Head Start promotes school readiness of children from low-income families ages birth to 5 by providing educational, health and family well-being services. Early Head Start focuses on kids ages birth to 3, and Head Start focuses on kids ages 3 and 4. There are other programs within Head Start that serve kids up to age 5.

The study found that in 2014-15, Head Start provided services to less than 2 percent of low-income Idaho children under 3 years old. It served 5.8 percent of Idaho’s 3-year-olds — less than any other state in the nation — and 14.53 percent of 4-year-olds — the fifth lowest in the nation.

“The bottom line is that Head Start is underfunded,” said Beth Ann Fuller, program director at North Idaho College Head Start. “In our area, there are more children living in poverty... and rural centers cost more, but we’re dedicated to being there. There’s not a lot of resources for families in rural areas and sometimes we’re their only connection [to early childhood development].”

Fuller said NIC Head Start serves 293 kids in North Idaho, but the wait list has at least twice as many names on it. The program only serves as many children as the federal government gives it money to. There are three Head Start programs for North Idaho residents: NIC Head Start, Mountain States Early Head Start and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Early Childhood Learning Center.

The NIEER study shows Head Start in Idaho does well at reaching low income 4-year-old children, particularly those in poverty, but Idaho children ages 3 and under are still some of the least served in the nation.

Fuller said that also comes down to funding. SHe said Head Start will accept a 4-year-old who hasn’t had any early childhood development before accepting a 3-year-old. Since there are a limited number of spaces in the program, more 4-year-olds are accepted into the program.

“We want all kids going into school with some kind of school readiness, so if we can get that 4-year-old for one year before they go to school, we know the 3-year-old can have that opportunity the next year,” Fuller said.

Part of the NIEER study looked at teacher qualifications within the Head Start program. In Idaho, 56.85 percent of Head Start teachers during the 2014-15 program had a bachelor’s degree or higher — the ninth lowest in the nation — and only 12.2 percent of Early Head Start teachers had a bachelor’s degree or higher — the third lowest in the nation.

Fuller said those numbers don’t reflect her program. She said 75 percent of the teachers at NIC Head Start have a bachelor’s degree in early childhood development, and everyone has at least an associate’s degree in early childhood development.

However, Bill Foxcroft, director of the Idaho Head Start Association, an organization that “supports Head Start programs through advocacy, partnerships, collaboration, recognition and professional development,” said the study’s numbers probably reflect the small pool of education professionals in Idaho.

“The pool is not keeping up with the demand,” he said. “We lose a lot of qualified teachers to higher paying jobs because we’re limited by funding.”

Though the study shows not many Idaho children get services from Head Start, it does show Idaho is one of the top five states in the nation for having the most funding per child. Once adjusted for cost of living, the report says, Early Head start spends $13,636 per child and Head Start spends $9,825 per child.

Fuller attributes that statistic to Idaho’s rural landscape; each of Idaho’s Head Start classrooms might serve fewer students than in other states but still cost the same to maintain. Plus, it costs more money to provide transportation to kids who live in rural areas, or, if there isn’t a classroom nearby, to send someone to that child’s home.

Foxcroft said the same thing but added Idaho has some Head Start programs that are more costly than others.

“We have diverse programs, like Migrant and Seasonal Head Start for children of migrant workers and farmers,” he said. “Those programs serve zero to 5-year-olds at nine hours a day [which is more than Head Start and Early Head start do]. About one fifth of all the kids we serve in the state are in those programs.”

Foxcroft also mentioned tribal Head Start programs are more costly because they serve a wide range of ages for longer hours.

Head Start has a goal for all of its classrooms to provide services five days a week year round within the next five years. To do that, Foxcroft said, Head Start programs have two options; receive more funding or offer services to fewer children.

“We’re carefully watching the political atmosphere,” Fuller said about funding for Head Start. “We’re hoping the bipartisan support of Head Start and Early Head Start continues.”