Why should income be a determining factor to allow your kid into a pre-kindergarten classroom?

Our daughter was not allowed to attend a "Head Start" program the year before entering Kindergarten, because our combined annual income is too high. Yet, we know for a fact that the children of illegal immigrants are allowed to attend this same program, that my taxes are paying for. How can I get this policy changed?

Parent Answers to "Why should income be a determining factor to allow your kid into a pre-kindergarten classroom?"

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The primary purpose of headstart is to help children who are at a disadvantage. They enroll children based on a point system based upon various at risk factors. It has been shown that certain risk factors can influence a child negatively when entering school. Low income is one, so are teen-age parents, difficult birth, birth defects, learning disability. They should be able to furnish you with the exact criteria used in your area. Some states take a percentage not low income ... again other at risk factors would determine rank.

Other considerations: the at risk factors that get other children in ahead of yours also can contribute to behaviours that you do not want your children exposed to at this early age. Some children are in HeadStart working out behaviour problems that would make it hard for them entering school. If you can afford other options, their are advantages to being able to do so.
There are better programs available out there if you can afford them. There are a lot of good pre-school preparation games and so forth on the computer since you are able to utilize that. A lot of low-income children do not have access to computers and have parents who do not use library facilities.

I'm guessing your income is just high enough to qualify, but in reality you are in the middle income bracket. There are only really two routes to go with on this on. The first is the route of arranging your own tutoring or mentoring for your child. As MagnetMom says below, Head Start is not a program for everyone. It is for children of economically and culturally disadvantaged families. These are children who may be later subjected to obstacles to their education, that your daughter will probably never have to experience. As you mentioned, there are kids from illegal immigrants attending the program. Those families often have to move around alot, perhaps shut themselves off from the world out of fear of being deported, etc. Plus, English is not normally the first language in the home. Not the best environment for a 3 or 4yr old to be trying to learn their ABC's and reading and math. Kids need stability in order to learn. That is where Head Start comes in at. They assist these families with the options and pieces they need so their child can start off on the same foot as your daughter. If your child is not likely to encounter the same situation or economic disadvantages, they would rather give that space to a child who desperately needs it.

Having said that, it doesn't solve the problem in your situation. If your daughter is an only child, perhaps you can look into tutoring or mentoring at the local public school for her age group. I live in NYC and pre-K tuition is expensive for private schools, but some people can afford to pay it. Perhaps your family falls into that category. Otherwise, check out the daycares that are available in your area.

My daughter is currently in a Head Start program. I can honestly tell you that the only difference between that and her daycare is that she gets to go on field trips and they have a graduation ceremony for them. For all the dressing they put on it, Head Start is a federal program with federal guidelines. They don't exactly require that kids to learn that much because then the illegals wouldn't be able to pass, which would make the program look like a failure. A failed program is a politician's nightmare, so the guidelines are very easy. From what I remember, the kids have to be able to count to 20, write their name, recognize their name, recognize certain colors, etc. Not exactly little Einsteins here. if you really want your daughter to shine, Head Start should be the last place to go. Do not expect your daughter to be a kindergarden reader if she goes through that program, unless you teach her yourself. Head Start can even be misleading sometimes. We thought our daughter could recognize her letters. Turns out, she has just been singing the ABC song (she memorized it) and didn't really know which letters were which. We have since started teaching her phonics on our own. If there are no other programs available in your area, look into buying one of the Hooked-on-Phonics kits from Walmart.com . They are about half price what it would cost from the company website (gotta love Walmart's pricing clout).

The second route I spoke of above, would be to just use one income. These programs have very loose registration guidelines. Most illegal families give no info other than name and address. You can use that to your advantage and do the same. They will hound you for as much data as possible, but they won't kick your child out unless you forget to bring in their physical.

You can try and get the policy changed, but IMO that is a waste of time. It is one of the many things in this country that our taxes pay for, but we will never get to use, like prisons (though I'm not sure I'd ever want to use that).

You can start with your local congressman. Head Start is a federal program for economically disadvantaged children. Children of illegal immigrants are eligible if they meet the financial criteria.

Whether you like the policy or not, and I'm not saying I agree with it, there are plenty of things our taxes pay for yet we can't take advantage of.

The idea behind Head Start is to give the kids who most need it a leg up so that when they start kindergarten with the more advantaged kids, they have half a chance. It wasn't meant as punishment for families that are doing ok.

Try the ACLU. I had the same problem with busing.

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