Religion Dominates Head Start Debate (hiring for preschool program)

[Kadie]

Religion Dominates Head Start Debate
By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer

Thursday, September 22, 2005


(09-22) 12:35 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --


The House moved Thursday to shore up Head Start's academics and finances, but debate about updating the preschool program turned heated over the role religion can play in hiring.


Republicans were ready to amend the Head Start bill so churches and other faith-based Head Start centers could factor religion into their hiring. Democrats called that idea discriminatory.


Launched in the 1960s, the nearly $7 billion Head Start program provides comprehensive early education to more than 900,000 poor children. Though credited for getting kids ready for school, Head Start has drawn scrutiny as cases of financial waste and questions about academic quality have surfaced nationwide.


Overall, the House bill would insert more competition into Head Start grants, require greater disclosure of how money is spent, and try to improve collaboration among educators in different grades. Yet on Thursday, the dispute over religion overshadowed bipartisan support for the main parts of the bill.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/22/national/w123524D64.DTL

[liveoaktx]

1. VIDEOS of some of our Dem House Reps fighting back

Speaking up for US

[jsamuel]

2. Jesus "Wasteful Spending", they pay 16k a year to be a teacher for that in

my state AR...

They wonder why the program is having a problem?

And now they want to mess it up even more by only hiring certain people based on religion? BAH!

:mad: