Obama Announces New Rules For Head Start During Visit To Yeadon
YEADON, Pa. (CBS) - President Obama made a brief visit to a Head Start center in Delaware County today, to announce new rules that will have the preschool programs competing for federal money.
President Obama visited a classroom here at the Yeadon Regional Head Start center, watching children play with Legos and building blocks.
Then it was on to the small auditorium, where he announced new rules for Head Start -- rules that would have low-performing Head Start programs compete for federal money, rather than have the money automatically handed to them.
Some supporters in attendance couldn't help but to laugh at the President's opening joke about the Eagles.
"I was told not to mention football at all," said President Obama.
He quickly switched gears to talk about a new rule governing Head Start--a federally funded program that allows children from low-income families, to attend school before Kindergarten.
"Under the new rule, programs are going to be evaluated against a set of clear high standards," said the President. "If classrooms are unsafe, if finances aren't in order, if kids aren't learning what they need to learn, then other organizations will be able to compete for that grant. We're not just going to put money into programs that don't work. We will take money and put them into programs that do."
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Saying he can't wait for Congress to act on his jobs bill that would hire teachers or on revising the No Child Left Behind law, the President told an audience of 200 people that programs will no longer have money automatically handed to them.
"This is the first time in history that Head Start will be truly held accountable for performance in the classroom. We know that raising the bar isn't always the easy thing to do. But it's the right thing to do."
The president said Yeadon's Head Start program is working. "We've got to meet the challenges today by preparing our children for the challenges of tomorrow. That's what's being done at this wonderful facility. We want to replicate these all across the country. We are proud of what you're doing. You've got a president who's got your back."
Head Start provides preschool education for 900,000 low-income children nationwide.
For more information go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/11/08/our-children-can-t-wait-new-regulations-increase-accountability-and-boost-quality-he
Reported by Mike DeNardo, KYW Newsradio; Jericka Duncan, CBS 3
