Head Start gets a look at reality

If you can't raise them, don't have them.

Time to shut down the baby scam profession, where children are like slaves serving their parents' income methodology.

I have a grandson who is receiving Speech therapy and OT at an agency in their area. The agency also is a HS provider.
The help given has been enormously successful. This fall he will be age appropriate for nursery school . Recently parents are getting numerous calls to sign him up in the HS program. They feel the calls are an indicator of problem w/ program in an area where there are more than enough eligible kids. Fortunately they have options and will place him in christian school which is 6 miles closer to their home. MIleage is a benefit not the sole factor , quality is
even at a greater cost !
Like so many things started years ago that have consumed millions of dollars w/ out much over site and analysis as to outcomes.

The Obama administrations own study shows little to no benefit from Head Start. Just another make work project for the Dems. Is it any wonder that our economies in Maine and the country are in the dumper? Imagine if all of the money wasted on programs such as these that produce nothing (including the money wasted on administering them) was used to actually produce something useful. How many miles of road could be paved, how many houses could be built, how many businesses that actually produce something useful and increase the value (wealth creation) in the world could be started? If you had your tax money that was wasted on this don't you think you could have spent it more wisely than the government did? Instead we have people "working" and producing nothing of value for us. Multiply this hundreds of times for all of the useless junk funded by government and it's a wonder our economy even functions at all.

Your right mainelion but the study only means this.
It will lead to changes that are just as wasteful because the O doesn't have berries to kill it!

I'm sure I'll be stepping in it by saying this..... but the HS "babysitting service" provides safe and affordable daycare for many low income parents who otherwise might not be able to work. And not all families receive HS for free.
Most private daycare is beyond the reach of low income earners.
So either support them in a way that may be of benefit to them and their children or enroll them in total welfare either way taxpayers will share the burden .The question you might ask your self is which is less painful?
I might be stepping away from the conservative mantra here , but I 'd rather see my tax dollars spent on some kids fed , warm safe and getting a little jump on school than p*****ing it down every rat hole in the third world and greasing the palms of political rain makers and cronies.... and that applies to both side of the aisle.
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Well said, johnw!

My daughter went to head start. We paid on a sliding scale and it allowed me to substitute and move into a full time teaching position. I won't speak for all head start centers, but the one my daughter attended had certified early childhood educators and they did work with students. It was far more than a babysitting service, hands down.

Cuts need to be made. It gets harder and harder to make ends meet and the government sucking up more and more of OUR money to waste needs to stop, but I have to say your comments on how awful head start is, may be a little prejudiced. Teachers, any teacher, can only do so much. Parenting is the biggest factor. Lousy parents breed lousy parents. Of course, there are exceptions, these are what we should strive for, but by and large, that's the way it is. Anything we can do to intervene in that cycle, the better off we are as a society.

At $8,000 to $10,000 or more per year to care-take for these toddlers is way over what a non-government baby sitter would charge. To be able to get $40,000 per year to mind 4 kids for 50 weeks a year is one heck of an income. Forget this nonsense about early educational intervention. It doesn't work. If the parents can't afford food for the little nippers, join the welfare ranks or the other wasteful Federal and State give away programs. I know parents who have kids in this program and it is nothing more than a baby sitting service run by the government to get votes indoctrinate the little mush brains and provide welfare income to the program administrators.

Don't forget that America became the best country in the world without forcing Americans to pay for someone else's kids nappy time and snacks.

Yes, providing babysitting for children whose parents wouldn't otherwise be able to work and make money is a good thing. However, as always, the problem is A) the program competes with private providers, and B) we don't know the actual percentage of families being helped who do go on to be productive taxpayers. Nor do we see actual early childhood education results in the amount which HS would like us to believe.

As with any other Government program, HS has expanded over the decades, with little proof of actual results as to early childhood education benefit. We also don't know whether the program is providing "free" or cheap childcare to good purpose, or is simply feeding the public-benefit-trough mentality.

All levels of such Government programs need better oversight and review, and as we know, it's generally not happening.

If you feed the pigeons, or the seagulls, or the ducks, or the turkeys, how many of them take the offering as a "hand-up" towards self-reliance?

You feed the pigeons, you get more pigeons. If you don't break the cycle somehow, it's like having your kids live with you and depend on you for the rest of your life.

How many liberals want their kids to stay with them and live off them well into their middle age?

This just another govt run program and like most it is not run with the intention of helping anyone but the bureaucrats that run it, and if by some lucky chance a child is helped it is more than likely by accident not design.

Wow Islander.... The people I know who run the local HS are a pretty dedicated bunch.... Their not making big bucks and they have a genuine concern for the kids that they take care of.
I know that when my now ex wife and I were in our 20's both working fulltime, me in the woods and her at a local business and struggling to buy our first home and pay the bills .....HS was a safe affordable place for us to leave our daughter. That was 30+ years ago.... some of the same people who took care of her still inquire as to how she has done......

Johnw - It seems that you think it is OK for the government to stick a gun in my ear and threaten to take my savings and my home if I don't pay them money so they can give it to you to help you buy your first home? You do realize that you are, or were, a welfare recipient.

Johnw, how long ago did you use the daycare? And were your children any further ahead after the first grade, due to going to HS? Are they more productive than children who did not go to HS and went to private daycare or just played at home?
Seems like you used it for the affordable/subsidized daycare rather than getting the so called head start. Glad it worked for your family, I suspect your children would have done well no matter where their daycare came from.

Well I guess that means I was a welfare recipient also since I was placed in Head Start by my parents. I believe they paid on a sliding scale for me to attend.

I don't care that the state is cutting their contribution to the program. It is shocking that Maine is the only state that gives additional money to Head Start. But to call it a system of indoctrination - particularly if you have no direct experience with the program - is a little concerning. I can't speak for what it is now, but for me Head Start was a place that allowed both of my parents to work while I got a jump start on my education.

As JohnW mentioned, I was fed, warm, safe, and more prepared than many of my classmates for kindergarten. I'd like to think that the reason for my success throughout school was my own and that I had family that pushed me to do well, but I honestly think Head Start had a lot to do with it. And - *shocker* - I'm not some flaming liberal. Or a pigeon. Or a seagull. Or a duck or a turkey.

If these programs really worked, wouldn't they be shrinking instead of expanding?

If they are supposed to make things better, why do things keep getting worse?

Melvin the programs would be shrinking if the useless lying politicians that are in control of this country and in the pockets of special interests were more concerned about creating an environment where good paying jobs were created than lining their own pockets
HS like most government assistance programs is just a symptom it's not the disease.... The disease is the very narrow avenue of upward mobility that excludes an adequate income for a large percent of the population.....especially in Maine.
Wouldn't it be great if there were enough good paying jobs so mom(or dad) could stay at home and give the kids that extra little bit of attention they need?
Just an afterthought .... a lot of the people that use HS are the working poor...... I have zero problem with my tax dollars helping out those who are trying..... Tax dollars spent on for mike mushroom's $800 a month lease or the other perks that our illustrious royal congressional overlords enjoy is another story....The people we should be outraged at are the morons that we have allowed to remain in office,........that produce no positive results.