Local officials say proposed Head Start salary rule could lead to enrollment cuts

May 14—URBANA — Facilitators of a federal early childhood program are concerned that a proposal for new salary requirements could lead to enrollment cuts.

The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission is asking current and former Head Start families to consider signing an open letter to President Joe Biden on the issue. Individuals who wish to add their name to the letter can do so at . The deadline to sign up 10:59 p.m. Central today.

The letter asks that the country's leaders consider the impact of the proposed rule and, among other things, ensure new requirements are fully funded and "do not result in reducing the number of children and families served."

"I think that it's important that we engage our families, let them know what's going on," said Brandi Granse, director of the early-childhood education at the commission. "And hopefully Congress can hear their voices, because even though these are good regulations to put into place, there has to be funding connected to them in order to make them work for all programs across the United States, not just for Champaign County."

The commission receives federal funding to promote "kindergarten readiness" to income-eligible families through two programs: Early Head Start, for infants, toddlers and expecting parents; and Head Start, for 3- to 5-year-olds.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families announced potential changes for the federal Head Start program in November.

Among other things, the proposal includes certain requirements for wages and benefits in hopes of stabilizing the Head Start workforce, with the federal agency estimating that the rule would raise Head Start teachers' annual wages "by more than $10,000 on average."

"Programs must make progress toward pay parity for Head Start education staff with kindergarten-through-third-grade teachers in local or neighboring school districts," said officials with the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. "This must be demonstrated by ensuring that, by August 2031, annual salaries for Head Start education staff are at least comparable to the annual salaries of public-school preschool teachers, accounting for responsibilities, qualifications and experience."

The proposed rule would also require programs to establish a pay floor so that all staff receive enough to "cover basic costs of living in the geographic area."

The federal administration claims the change will not affect children who currently participate in Head Start, and enrollment will remain "roughly constant," but leaders of local Head Start programs aren't convinced.

Granse said most Head Start programs across the country do not have the funds to match public-school wages and would have to make cuts to enrollment and staffing to balance their budgets. She noted that the RPC had several vacancies last summer due to COVID-19, which led it to reduce enrollment to increase wages.

"Our employees deserved those increases, but it was also a strategy to attract qualified candidates to fill those positions," she said. "Now, we lost 150 Head Start enrollments — that's a lot — out of 435."

According to Granse, the RPC increased its wages by about 10 to 28 percent, and she based the raises on local school district contracts .

"I've already done that for the next years, so I think that our program would be secure, but after that, the Office of Head Start would still need to continue to increase and give us a cost-of-living or overall increase to wages, to support wages and benefits," she said. "It's not sustainable the way it is."

The open letter to Biden, drafted by the National Head Start Association on behalf of families, states that Head Start staff "are real life heroes, and they deserve to be compensated adequately and fairly for their work."

However, the association added that the new salary rules should only be enacted if additional funding is provided .

"If Head Start is forced to reduce the number of children served in order to cover these extra costs, even fewer families like us will have access to the opportunities provided by Head Start," it states. "That is unacceptable."

According to Granse, the RPC serves 280 preschoolers through Head Start and 239 infants and toddlers in Early Head Start.

"Losing the number of the children that we did from Head Start, that really impacts our community," she said. "And it would be a shame if we had to go through the same process and, let's say, lose infant, toddler spots for families or additional Head Start spots for families. That would be detrimental to this community."