Head Start Expansion Withstands Challenge

Wed., March 17, 1999

A last-ditch attempt in the House to kill Sen. Clyde Boatright’s plan to expand Head Start fell short Tuesday, gaining only 13 votes.

The House voted 52-13 to approve a Health and Welfare budget bill that includes diverting $1.5 million in leftover welfare funds to expanding Head Start, a federally funded preschool program for disadvantaged children.

The acclaimed program now serves only 20 percent of the eligible children in Idaho, for lack of money. It is entirely federally funded, and Idaho is one of only about a dozen states that adds no state funding to the program.

Boatright’s bill wouldn’t change that. But it does allow the program to expand by making use of federal funds left in the state’s welfare accounts, because Idaho’s welfare caseload has dropped so abruptly since the state instituted welfare reform.

A letter from Idaho’s legislative auditor says Head Start appears to be an appropriate use for the federal money, which can only be spent on programs for the poor that help move them toward self-sufficiency.

All North Idaho representatives voted in favor of the Head Start expansion.

Head Start plans to open 15 new classrooms if the governor signs the bill into law.

Boatright, R-Rathdrum, made the move a priority this year during his first session of serving on the Legislature’s budget committee.

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Head Start Expansion Withstands Challenge

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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