Title: Is Head Start--An Important Program for Children in Poverty--Reaching All Who Need It?

Description: Head Start is an important program that supports early learning and development in young children (from birth to 5), who live in poverty. Nearly 800,000 young children were enrolled in Head Start programs during the 2021-2022 school year. But many more kids are eligible for Head Start than can be served by existing resources. Given these resource constraints, GAO was asked to look at how Head Start allocates funding to ensure it aligns with need. We talk to GAO's Jackie Nowicki to learn more.

Related Work: GAO-24-106077, Head Start: Opportunities Exist to better Align Resources with Child Poverty

Release Date: February 2024

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[Jackie Nowicki:] Because Head Start cannot serve all or even most eligible children, it's really important that its resources are targeted to communities that have the greatest need.

[Holly Hobbs:] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report. Your source for fact-based, nonpartisan news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm your host, Holly Hobbs. Head Start is an important program that supports early learning and development in young children, those ages birth to five, who live in poverty. Nearly 800,000 young children were enrolled in Head Start programs during the 2021-2022 school year. But many more kids are eligible for Head Start than can be served by existing resources. Given these resource constraints, GAO was asked to look at how Head Start allocates funding to ensure it aligns with need. Joining us to talk about our new report is GAO's Jackie Nowicki, an expert on early childhood education. Thanks for joining us.

[Jackie Nowicki:] Thanks for having me, Holly.

[Holly Hobbs:] Jackie, Head Start is a federal program, and it's administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. But it's actually run by local and community entities, right? It seems like that would create some differences in access.

[Jackie Nowicki:] Yes, absolutely. So we actually looked at the number of Head Start seats in communities across the U.S. and then compared that to the number of kids experiencing poverty in those communities. Absolutely there are differences. And in some cases it was pretty wide. At the state level, Head Start availability ranged from nine seats, nine Head Start seats for every hundred kids experiencing poverty in Nevada, to Oregon, which had 53 seats per every hundred kids. At the county level, the average was 30 Head Start seats. And again, per 100 kids. But there were counties that had fewer than ten. And even, you know, a small percentage of counties that had more seats than they have young children in poverty.

[Holly Hobbs:] So even though the program is state and local run, HHS is deciding how much money each state receives. How are they doing that?

[Jackie Nowicki:] So the money is distributed based on a formula. Each year, grantees essentially get the same amount of funding as they received in the prior year. And when Congress appropriates additional money for things--maybe like a cost-of-living adjustment or a quality improvement effort-, that money is generally spread across all grantees proportionately. The problem is that populations and poverty can shift over time, and the formula does not do a great job of keeping up with those shifts. So what happens is that grantees generally see their funding grow over time at roughly the same rate regardless of what's happening with poverty levels or population shifts.

[Holly Hobbs:] If the funding formula isn't responsive to changes in child poverty numbers, why doesn't HHS just change it?

[Jackie Nowicki:] So the formula is set in law. HHS doesn't have the authority to change it. Even Congress, the last few times Congress has appropriated funding increases, it has tended to target those dollars toward specific activities rather than having the money being distributed by formula. 

[Holly Hobbs:] A lot of times with programs like this, federal agencies or departments will collect a lot of data to see if funding is reaching those in need or those who need it the most. Is HHS doing anything like that?

[Jackie Nowicki:] They are. They collect a lot of data. The problem is that the Office of Head Start doesn't use the data that it collects to identify where there are those differences in access to Head Start services that we talked about earlier. So even though HHS has limited authority to redirect funds toward communities with the greatest need, they aren't using the authority that they do have to get those funds where they are needed most.

[Holly Hobbs:]  We're talking about this at the federal level, but these are real kids. What's the impact on these kids for not having the money that they need or not the seats that they need, I guess, is the way to talk about it.

[Jackie Nowicki:] So it's a really good question. The bottom line there is that there are kids in need of services who are not necessarily getting them. And I say not necessarily because Head Start is not the only game in town, but in some places it is the biggest game in town. It's very difficult. And that's we make hard choices when we have limited resources. But not all kids can be served.

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[Holly Hobbs:] Jackie just told us that depending on what state or county you live in the number of seats for Head Start could vary widely. And that the formula used to determine these seats isn't responsive to shifts in demand like growth in poverty or population. Jackie, what do we think HHS should be doing to ensure Head Start funding is reaching the places most in need?

[Jackie Nowicki:] So we made two recommendations to HHS to get at those issues. First, we recommended that they fully leverage the authority they have to award funds to areas with the highest need. For instance, HHS does have authority to consider relative need when it redistributes funds that it might recapture from a grantee that isn't able to fill the number of seats in its Head Start agreement. Second, we recommended that Head Start use the data that it already collects to inform those kinds of reallocation decisions.

[Holly Hobbs:] And some of the issues you described are outside of HHS's authority to fix. Have we asked Congress to take any actions?

[Jackie Nowicki:] We have. We asked Congress to consider two statutory changes. The biggest one is to review and consider revising the provisions governing the annual Head Start funding formula. That is the main formula that determines how billions of dollars are allocated each year. So we asked them to look at that formula and make sure that it's still aligned with congressional priorities and goals for the program.

[Holly Hobbs:] And last question, what's the bottom line of this report?

[Jackie Nowicki:] Well, as we just discussed, you know, Head Start cannot serve all or even most eligible children at its current funding level. So it's really important that Head Start resources are targeted to communities with the greatest need. And while it's mostly up to Congress to decide whether that main statutory funding formula aligns with priorities it has for Head Start, HHS can also be more proactive by better leveraging its own authority and by using the data that it collects to inform resource allocation decisions that are within its purview to make.

[Holly Hobbs:] That was Jackie Nowicki talking about our new report on Head Start. Thanks for your time, Jackie.

[Jackie Nowicki:] Thanks, Holly.

[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen and make sure to leave a rating and review to let others know about the work we're doing. For more from the congressional watchdog, the US Government Accountability Office, visit us at GAO.gov