Head Start seeks grant to pay for mandates

Mercer County Head Start officials are seeking a grant to fund increased instructional time required under future standards.

Program officials nationwide are awaiting new standards, Mercer County Head Start Director Amy Esser said Thursday during a special Celina school board meeting. The biggest upcoming change will be a requirement to provide 1,020 hours of direct service to some students over at least eight months, representing an increase for many programs. The proposals likely will become official later this year.

Classes offered at the Montezuma location - the old Franklin building - and the Rockford location offer either 465.5 hours or 798 hours of yearly instructional time through three-and-a-half-hour days and six-hour days. To meet the new standards, new six-hour classes will be added, and existing offerings will need to be shuffled.

The call for more instructional time is the result of research that indicated more instruction leads to more learning, which results in greater school readiness - one of Head Start's main goals.

Esser said officials have seen the same connection locally. Six-hour days are offered at the Rockford location and three-and-a-half-hour days at the Montezuma location.

"We did some data analysis between our children who are at 798 hours and children who are at 465 hours, and just by the nature of having more opportunities to learn, our Rockford kids were just a hair above in some areas," Esser said.

Congress has approved $294 million in "duration grant" money to fund the increased instruction time, Esser said.

"I know $294 million sounds like a lot of money. But 90 percent of all Head Starts in the United States are eligible for this grant. So it's highly competitive," Esser said.

The proposal calls for 40 percent of current students to reach the 1,020 mark, which for Mercer County will be about 60 students.

The increased instruction time will carry added costs. On Thursday, school board members approved Esser's request to apply for a duration grant, as did members of Head Start's policy council.

"It impacts a significant number of our employee wages and benefits," Esser said.

She explained that classrooms depend on a head teacher, teacher assistants and a family advocate, as well as the management team and support staff including cooks or secretaries.

Additional staff - and additional hours from existing staff - would be needed to handle the extra hours. Esser said she would need to add another teacher, a family advocate, a teacher assistant and two "floaters."

Floaters help staff keep up with required documentation.

"Head Start is held accountable on so many fronts for data that we have to provide. So you have to give your teachers time to enter in all of their student assessment information into our database system," Esser said. "Typically, a floater goes in to relieve, give breaks and whatnot, and the teacher comes out so they have time to enter that assessment."

Esser described other hidden costs. With longer days, Head Start would serve more meals and snacks, the building equipment would be used more frequently and even laundry services would become an issue.

"With a six-hour program, kids can nap. So now I have the cost of providing a cot. The cots have to be covered, they have to be individualized, they have to be cleaned every week," Esser said. "I've spent a lot of time making sure I get those hidden costs in (the grant application)."

Increased classroom time would also lead to program changes. Esser said more time would allow staff to focus on issues brought up in a recent community-needs assessment. For example, obesity was identified as a problem. An existing healthy-living initiative could be expanded during a full-day program, Esser said.

"We have a significant number of preschoolers who are by definition either overweight or obese. That has been a Head Start initiative for a long time," she said. "We have some of (the I am Moving, I am Learning) program ready to go but we need to expand it. And with having children in a classroom six hours a day, we need to keep them moving."

Head Start officials will decide which children will participate in the 1,020-hour program. Children will be selected based on the best fit, Esser explained. For example, older children can handle longer days and would likely be suited for six-hour classes. But the program also has a lot of working families who might have younger children they want placed in full-day classrooms.

"If they can take a six-hour day, they would be considered for that," Esser said.

The 1,020-hour plan will be required by the 2017-2018 school year whether or not the local program receives the grant.

"When the new performance standards come into effect, those will be considered federal law. They will be amended to the Head Start Act of 2007 and will be requirements," Esser said. "So unfortunately, when you're mandated to do something and they don't give you the funding for it, you have to find a way. It's very difficult when you have no additional dollars."

However, she said she was hopeful about Mercer County's prospects. If awarded, the grant should cover all cost increases. Esser does not yet know what the added cost will be. She has turned over her information on the program's need to Celina district treasurer Mick Davis for the budget allocation portion of the grant application.

"It will be a significant increase," Esser said.