duplicate

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBY2VBFXDE.html

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. snip

GOP lawmakers, with backing from the White House, contend that preschool centers should not have to give up their religious autonomy in order to receive federal grants. snip

The Republican plan would, for example, allow a Catholic church that provides Head Start services to employ only qualified child-care workers who are Catholics.

I don't care how the Republicans slice and dice it. Still sounds like discrimination to me.