House passes plan to launch a new Head Start program

Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, pushing bill to expand early learning

Feb. 13, 2008

OLYMPIA – Head Start has been such a success on the national level that lawmakers here want to begin their own such program in Washington. A bill to expand early childhood education services, including a new Washington Head Start program, today passed the House.

State Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, is the prime sponsor of the measure to help get all children off to a great start in school.

"Our schools spend a lot of time and resources trying to bring many kids up to speed when they arrive at school unprepared," Goodman said.

"We can ensure that more students arrive at school ready to learn by investing in the Head Start program, which is a proven model serving the most disadvantaged children and their parents in our communities.”

Goodman’s legislation, House Bill 3168, directs the state’s Department of Early Learning to develop a plan to implement the new Washington Head Start program. The well-established federal Head Start program already helps low-income families with children succeed in school.

The state would develop the new Head Start program out of the existing Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), more closely matching the state program’s standards with the comparable federal standards. The state must also determine what resources it would take to implement Head Start here.

Research on the Head Start program reveals that every dollar invested in the program returns $9 back in savings and benefits.

“In my mind, there isn’t a better investment the state could make,” Goodman said. “We’re going to help more kids do well in school, avoid trouble with the law, get good jobs—and set them up to raise families that will also flourish.”

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Staff contact - Andrew Dziedzic, (360) 786-7218

HB 3168: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/Summary.aspx?bill=3168&year=2007