Head Start advocate accuses administration of using scare tactics

Speaking at a rally in New York Wednesday to protest the Bush administration's plan for reauthorizing the Head Start preschool program, National Head Start Association Chairman Ron Herndon accused the administration of trying "to intimidate into silence the very people who know the best about what Head Start does and what it takes to make sure that America's most at-risk children are made ready to learn in school."

Herndon, who directs the Albina Head Start Program in Portland, Ore., cited a May 8 memo from Windy Hill, Head Start's associate commissioner, to Head Start directors nationwide.

The memo warns Head Start directors that they may not use staff time or Head Start resources to engage in advocacy or lobbying. The memo, Hill explained, came in response to another memo from the "governmental affairs arm of a Head Start advocacy group," which, Hill writes, "appears to encourage Head Start programs to use Head Start program funds and/or staff in a manner that is in direct violation of the laws that govern your political activities."

In an interview, Hill said that no particular Head Start program or staffer is under investigation, but that the memo seemed to encourage Head Start program staff to oppose the Bush reauthorization plan by contacting Head Start parents and by writing letters to their representatives. Hill refused to say that the memo came from the Head Start association, but other Head Start sources confirmed it was NHSA, which represents local Head Start directors in Washington. Head Start is the federally funded preschool program for poor children.

At the rally, Herndon demanded that Hill either retract or clarify her memo by June 3, and he denied that any Head Start directors had violated the strictures governing their advocacy behavior. "No one has sent federal money to speak out against the attack on Head Start and no one is going to do so," he said. Nonetheless, he added that Hill's memo, by warning Head Start staff to steer clear of advocacy while they are on the job, does not also make clear that staff are free to advocate political views during their own time, and with their own resources.

Herndon said that the Head Start association is contemplating a legal challenge to Hill's memo, if a clarification is not forthcoming. Hill responded that she would be responsive to any inquiries, but said that "the best person to guide them is their own legal counsel," she said. "It's not our role to provide legal advice."

The battle over the memos comes amid a seething debate over reauthorization of the 38-year-old Head Start program. The Bush administration has proposed-and House Republicans have introduced-legislation that would allow some states to apply for the opportunity to manage Head Start funding. The administration says that this will increase the program's efficiency by allowing the states to combine their own preschool programs with Head Start. But the Head Start association, and most Head Start directors, argue that states are ill-equipped to take over the program, and will probably reduce services or divert funding to other needs.