The Head Start program in Louisiana is inadequately funded, with teachers earning substantially less than public schools instructors and per-pupil spending falling below the national average, the National Institute for Early Education Research says in a new report.
Head Start is a federal program—though it’s administered by local leaders—that serves 3- to 5-year-old children. It provides early education and support services to children and families with household incomes up to 130% of federal poverty standards.
During the 2014-2015 program year, 21,475 children—or about 13% of Louisiana’s low-income children under the age of 5—were enrolled in Head Start.
And while $14,119 was spent per child in Louisiana for the federally funded Early Head Start program that serve infants and toddlers—above the national average of $12,575—per pupil spending for Head Start was $7,438, below the national average of $8,038.
The NIEER released its State(s) of Head Start report today, detailing widespread disparities among states in the child development program.
The report is a first-of-its kind examination of Head Start and Early Head Start programs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and in six U.S. territories for the 2014-2015 school year and historical data from 2007-2015.
Disparities were found in classroom hours, funding, teacher qualifications, compensation, observed quality and enrollment.
“As Head Start is only one in a larger set of public programs supporting young children that varies greatly from one state to the next, we call for an independent bipartisan study commission to develop an action plan supporting quality education for all young children and their families, particularly the most vulnerable, in every state and territory,” NIEER Director W. Steven Barnett says in a statement.
The quality of instructional support for the program in Louisiana was found to be below the research-based threshold for effective learning during the period examined, the NIEER says. Louisiana Head Start teachers also earned substantially less than public school teachers, $30,752 compared to $47,886.
Also, the percentage of Louisiana Head Start teachers holding a bachelor’s degree or higher was below the national average, the report says. Only 66% of Louisiana Head Start teachers had a bachelor’s, compared to 73% nationally.
The report found that 16% of Louisiana Early Head Start teachers had a bachelor’s compared to 30% nationally.
