Subcommittee backs Head Start report requirement to inventory capacity and barriers

House Bill 2 11 asks the state’s Head Start coordination office to produce a report summarizing the state of Head Start and Early Head Start across Virginia, including trends in funding, enrollment, per-child costs and operational barriers.

Tondra Jeffries, executive director of the Head Start State Collaboration Office, told the committee her office would lead the work and that Virginia currently has just under 11,000 funded slots across early Head Start and Head Start, operated by about 69 local agencies representing community action agencies, school divisions and nonprofits. “The goal for us is simple. We’re here to ensure that we maximize the federal dollars that we receive… and ensure that the highest-need families continue to receive access to comprehensive, high-quality services,” she said.

Representatives from the Virginia Education Association, the Virginia Community Action Partnership, and Voices for Virginia’s Children also testified in support, saying the report would help prepare the state for possible federal funding cuts and identify operational barriers to maximizing Head Start funding.

Committee members asked procedural questions and then voted to recommend reporting the bill to the full committee.

The recommendation sends the report directive forward; the bill assigns the report task to the Head Start State Collaboration Office in the Department of Education.