Head Start Expansion Gets Senate Approval

Sen. Clyde Boatright’s plan to funnel $1.5 million into expanding Head Start in Idaho passed the Senate Wednesday on a unanimous vote.

Boatright, R-Rathdrum, had earlier won support from the Legislature’s budget committee to divert leftover welfare money to expand the popular preschool program for disadvantaged children. Idaho now serves only about one in five kids who are eligible, because funds are short.

A letter from the state legislative auditor’s office has declared it OK to use the federal welfare funds, because the purposes of Head Start fit the rules for using the welfare money. Those rules require the money to go to low-income children and their families, and to go to programs that help the recipients move toward self-sufficiency.

Although some senators reportedly were upset about the move, none spoke against it or voted against the Health & Welfare budget bill that contained it. The bill also includes a diversion of leftover welfare funds to pay for Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s proposed early childhood development program. Kempthorne has talked about expanding the “Parents as Teachers” program statewide.

But the legislative auditor said the funds can’t be used for that unless the program is limited to the economically disadvantaged. The details of Kempthorne’s program aren’t yet clear.