Shut It Down!  [Scroll down]  Let's get rid of the Department of Education, too.  Why does it even exist?  Education is a local responsibility and none of the federal government's business.  Yet its spending is up 300% over the last 10 years.  The department didn't even exist before 1979.  Has education improved since then?  No.  Government's grand plans, like No Child Left Behind and Common Core, helped no one but bureaucrats.  Trying to justify itself, the department funded studies of everyone's favorite government program, Head Start.  The "experts" were surprised to learn that the much-praised program has no effect.  By third grade, there was no difference between kids that attend and those who don't.  Education is best left to local governments and parents.

Mitt Romney Just Voted To Keep Masking Two-Year-Olds.  Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah voted with a room filled with several bare-faced Democrats on Tuesday to keep the federal mask mandates for toddlers as young as two years old.  During a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing over the bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act, Romney voted no to lifting mask and jab mandates in the federal Head Start program.  [Tweet]  The current U.S. Department of Health and Human Services standards for the Head Start program require "universal masking for all individuals two years of age and older" and Covid-19 jab proof for all adults involved in the program.

Five Things to Know About Biden's $1.8 Trillion American Families Plan.  The American Families Plan would spend an astounding $200 billion on "free" universal preschool for all 3-year-old and 4-year-old children, based on the premise that children benefit academically from preschool.  However, the most rigorous research shows that government preschool programs consistently fail to produce any sustained benefits for children and actually have some negative effects.  We don't have to imagine what Biden's universal preschool plan would look like, as Americans already have half-a-century of evidence on the ineffective Head Start program.  A 2021 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that Head Start had little to no impact on the cognitive, social-emotional, and health outcomes of participants.  The fact that Head Start is the closest existing analog to any new or expanded federal preschool program does not inspire confidence.

Progressive Indoctrination in Church.  I became aware that the "Head Start" program for preschool children is not simply preparation for elementary school work when this federally funded program trickled into a church in Maine during Sunday School.  I was music director at the time (the 1980s), and the choir gathered in the church's assembly hall before the start of each Sunday service, as children gathered for their Sunday session.  Wittingly or not, the church had allowed a de facto collusion between secular and sacred teaching.  Unsuspecting families were in fact exposing their children to ideas more in line with paganism than with Christianity.  It was a subtle form of indoctrination.  I was not amused when I saw, among the children's playthings, dolls of both sexes that were "anatomically correct."  Parents who might justifiably object to this public display of what was formerly a private matter were out of luck.  Unmistakable evidence of tampering with Christian doctrine came during the Sunday School lessons.  Children were being made to understand that Jesus was not at all different from you or me, that He was simply an extra-nice and loving man.  The Christian tenets that He is the Son of God, divine, and without sin were details left out of the narrative.

Will Congress Heed Evidence Government Preschool Is Worthless?  On the theory that more government programs can solve any public-education problem, bipartisan policymakers have embraced government-funded pre-K programs as the current fix.  The federal Every Student Succeeds Act dangles multiple incentives, including new Preschool Development Grants, to coax states into taking more young children from their families and enrolling them in government preschool.  Advocates claim the $7.6 billion spent on state pre-K programs will result in improved academic achievement and a multitude of societal benefits.  But a new study from the center-left think tank Brookings douses these claims with a splash of reality.  The Brookings study analyzed each state's level of enrollment in its government pre-K program and correlated that enrollment with scores, five years later, of the state's fourth-graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).  The conclusion:  "[I]ncreased investment in state pre-K... does not enhance student achievement meaningfully, if at all."

Don't Overestimate Preschool Programs.  Participating students saw benefits in health and quality of life, labor income, crime reduction, and education gains, and their mothers saw increases in their income because of the child care provided by the program.  Sure, the cost was enormous, as the authors readily admit.  The program cost $18,514 per child per year (in 2014 dollars) and lasted from birth to age five.  But it produced $6.30 in benefits for every dollar spent.  That equates to a 13 percent rate of return, leading NPR to headline a story "How Investing in Preschool Beats the Stock Market, Hands Down."  The Atlantic went so far as to ask, "Why Doesn't Public School Start at Birth?"  Taking a more measured tone, the Christian Science Monitor led with "High ROI:  Why Preschool Programs Are a Good Investment for Society."  But we need to clarify something right off the bat:  These are the findings from a study of 70 kids.

Man admits taking $250K from Head Start; bought Maserati, mink coat.  The former executive director of a former Head Start program in Jersey City Tuesday admitted that he diverted more than $250,000 from programs for underprivileged children and used the money for personal expenses, including a Maserati and a mink coat, prosecutors said.  Robert E. Mays, 38, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in federal court to one count of wire fraud.  According to court papers charging him, Mays in 2013 forged records and duped employees at the Jersey City Child Development Centers into believing that its board of directors had raised his salary 61 percent to $155,000 after acting as executive director for only two months.

"Head Start" Initiative Crashes and Burns.  Clinging to the hope that a model for a universal preschool program could run effectively, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created a project known as Head Start CARES in order to put this concept to the test.  The purpose of this initiative was to put to the test three "evidence-based" ways of helping children in lower income communities develop a love of learning, which would eventually grow their academic prowess and help create a rise in the number of high school graduates in impoverished communities throughout the country.  Sadly, Head Start has proved to be a failure to launch.  According to Heritage Foundation research fellow David Muhlhausen, PH.D. "Experimental evaluations released in 2014 and 2015 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that enhanced Head Start CARES demonstration programs had little to no effect."

Obama Unveils $1B Boost for Preschools, Including $55 Million From Disney.  It's a year-end present for tens of thousands of kids and early childhood education programs.  President Obama today [12/10/2014] is set to unveil a $1 billion package of new public and private funding for U.S. preschool programs during a White House summit to promote one of his favored domestic initiatives.

Welcome to TotCare: Obama's Preschool Takeover.  The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, just like the endless cycles of big, bad government programs to federalize preschool and day care.  On Wednesday [12/10/2014], the White House Summit on Early Education will unveil nearly $1 billion in new "investments" to "expand access to high-quality early childhood education to every child in America" from "birth and continuing to age 5."  It's a retread of President Obama's 2013 State of the Union school-spending plan, which was a repackaging of his 2011 Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge program.

Obama announces $1 billion investment for early childhood education.  Declaring early childhood education "one of the best investments we can make," President Barack Obama on Wednesday followed up on a promise to expand early education opportunities for tens of thousands of children by announcing $1 billion in public-private spending on programs for young learners.  Obama said that less than one-third of 4-year-olds are enrolled in preschool and blamed the high cost of these programs for essentially shutting off access to poorer infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

The Bogeyman has entered the nursery.  In the nightmare world progressives are designing for civil society, little tots are no longer your little tots.  They are government-sought human resources to be raised as tomorrow's anarchists. [...] Once these innocent children are in hand, progressives will read the small fry their own version of the fairytale.  Karl Marx and not George Washington will be the role model.  Before going on to Grade 1 in Common Core-captive public schools, these children will already be repeating by rote that Obama and not Jesus is the Messiah.  They will be taught that the Constitution is old hat; that America is racist and needs to pay a never-ending debt to the outside world; that all cops are bad and that government and their teachers know better than their untrustworthy parents.

The Truth Behind Obama's $1 Billion Early Education Plan.  The CEA report Obama mentioned does indeed cite research showing that, "for every dollar spent on the Perry Preschool program, the benefits totaled $7 to $10, with a baseline estimate of $8.60."  But the Perry Preschool Project was a single study that tracked just 128 children in just Ypsilanti, Michigan more than 50 years ago!  The track record for other preschool programs is far more mixed and the most scientific studies of the federal government's own Head Start program show the spending is largely wasted.

Obama, Shakira Push Preschool Education.  The Obama administration teamed up with pop singer Shakira and The Walt Disney Company on Wednesday [12/10/2014] to announce a billion-dollar investment for American children's access to pre-K education, while pressuring Republicans in Congress to add far more.

President Obama to announce $1 billion in funding for preschool.  Among the announcements that Obama and Duncan will make at the summit Wednesday [12/10/2014]:
  •   Some $250 million in federal preschool development grants, to help 18 winning states expand the reach of early education programs in high-need communities. [...]
  •   Up to $500 million in federal grants to expand and improve Early Head Start programs and child care partnerships.
  •   A new policy statement around preschool suspension and expulsion, aimed at curbing the high rates of these discipline strategies, especially for boys and children of color.

The price of pre-K in 2016 might be higher than you think.  Over the past couple of years, a number of red and blue states across the country have joined the pre-K bandwagon, including Republican strongholds like Oklahoma and Georgia.  And the trend might continue:  last month, the Obama administration announced its new Preschool Grant Program in which states are eligible for a chunk of $250 million to build or expand preschool programs.  The administration's tempting offer has begun to place a growing group of Republican governors, members of Congress, and mayors in the pro-pre-K posse.

Head Start: An $8 billion, ineffective political sacred cow.  Head Start, the federal preschool program for low-income kids, is a politician's favorite.  They regard the sum of the money poured into Head Start as the measurement of the depth of their concern "for the children."  No wonder it's costing $8 billion a year.  There's no limit to the concern the right-minded have "for the children."  For all that money, we're not getting much.  This is the conclusion in a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research.  The bureau is unable to find lasting benefits for the 900,000 children enrolled in the program.

California leaders strike deal on pre-kindergarten.  The proposal, still making its way through the legislature, would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to offer preschool access to 234,000 low-income four-year olds, state Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D) said Thursday [6/12/2014].  Four-year-olds from low-income families with at least one working parent would be eligible for full-day pre-kindergarten.  Tens of thousands of additional students would have access to so-called "transitional" programs.

HHS Extends Head Start Participation to Same-Sex Marriage Families.  The administration for children and families, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued guidance in a memo on Wednesday [6/4/2014] regarding application of the federal government's policy on same-sex spouses/marriages to all Head Start and Early Head Start programs. [...] HHS instructed all grantees and delegate agencies in the memo to ensure that "[f]amily support and parent engagement activities should be inclusive and supportive of single, coupled, and married LGBT parents":

The Dubious Promise of Universal Preschool.  The idea of universal preschool is not new, and a handful of states already have such policies.  Oklahoma, for instance, has the highest rate of four-year-old enrollment at about 70%.  The president's endorsement and the offer of federal start-up money give a tremendous boost to this concept.  Before we launch a universal preschool program and dedicate billions of dollars in federal funds, however, it is important that we take into account the outcomes of students participating in the existing federal preschool program:  Head Start.

Leftists Committed To Getting Their Grubby Paws On Your Kids Early.  Progressives will trot out study after study to prove to you that your child will never learn to write his name without sticking the pen in his eye if you don't get him to a preschool STAT.  (One wonders how all of the scientists who got us to the moon were able to do so without the benefit of having gone to preschool.)  It's all garbage, of course, but it's purposeful garbage.  The sooner they can get your kids out of your hands and into those of a government employee who will say anything for a pension, the better.

Obama's Cash for Universal Preschool Clunkers.  It's elementary:  When Democrats find themselves in political trouble, they reach for your wallets.  After squandering billions on an ineffectual stimulus, failed green energy boondoggles and the disastrous Unaffordable Care Act, the Obama White House wants to dump $75 billion more into "free" preschool for all.  That'll solve everything.

Universal Child Care Does Not Bode Well for America's Children.  Increased spending of Americans' tax dollars for universal child care means more government involvement in determining which facilities should receive funds.  As prospects for the President's plan to create a federal scorecard to evaluate colleges indicate, that will be, at the very least, a problematic venture.  A new study published by the journal Science found that pre-kindergarten classes that received the highest quality scores in ratings systems used by most of the states were no better in preparing children for school than were classes with lower ratings.

Going Around Congress, Again.  [Scroll down]  Just before Christmas, Health and Human Services (HHS) were preparing to release their long-overdue evaluation of the Head Start Program.  Since it's [sic] inception in 1965, taxpayers have spent more than $180 billion on the program.  The HHS scientifically-rigorous study tracked 5,000 children who were randomly assigned to a group receiving Head Start services or a group that did not participate.  It followed their progression from age three or four through the end of third grade.  The first-grade study found that any benefits the children may have accrued while in the Head Start program were gone by the time they reached first grade. [...] In spite of prodding from Congress, they did not make the study public until the Friday before Christmas.

Somewhat related...
Kindergarten show canceled so kids can keep studying to become 'college and career ready.' Really..  This didn't come out of the blue.  Kindergarten (and even preschool) has increasingly become academic — at the expense of things such as recess and the arts — in this era of standardized test-based school reform.  In most states, educators are evaluated in large part on test scores of students (sometimes students they don't have) and on showing that their students are "college and career ready," the mantra of the Obama administration's education initiatives.

Sequestration Closes Colorado Head Start.  Head Start students are on their summer breaks, but when classes resume in August, the Crab Orchard Head Start facility will not be welcoming back the smiling faces of three- and four-year-old students.  The center, which served 37 students, will remain closed due to federal budget cuts known as sequestration that cut federal programs across the board.

Only if grandma is under 30 and has a job.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan: Pre-School is Better Than Grandma.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday [6/12/2013] that "cultural hesitation" makes it more difficult for some Hispanic parents to want to enroll their children in public pre-school programs because of their preference for family and friends.

Obamacare Scares Head Start Staffers More than Budget Cuts.  You'd think that at a national Head Start conference, sequestration, across-the-board federal spending cuts, would be the top issue.  No.  Instead, Head Start teachers and administrators told The Daily Caller that the health care law is their biggest headache.

Head Start Officials Cancel School Days, Attend Expensive Conference.  The Head Start program, a favorite of President Barack Obama, had an interesting solution for the problems caused by sequestration: low-income children in the program were sent home ten days early.  At the same time, 2,800 Head Start leaders spent a total of $752,059 attending a three-day conference in National Harbor, MD.

Why We Don't Need Universal Preschool.  There are already 45 government preschool programs run by numerous federal agencies, including the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, the Interior, and Housing and Urban Development.  Burke and Sheffield note that these 45 programs "are estimated to cost taxpayers more than $20 billion annually.  Many are duplicative and ineffective, failing to serve the needs of children from low-income families."  Head Start, of course, has already shown us the ways government preschool can fail American children.

Universal Preschool's Empty Promises.  In February 2013, President Obama proposed significantly increasing federal spending on early childhood education and care as part of his drive for a "cradle-to-career" government-controlled education system.  A massive federal preschool expansion would further entangle Washington in the education and care of the youngest American children.

Obama 'Preschool For All' Unlikely To Live Up To The Hype.  An outline released by the White House contends that President Barack Obama's universal preschool proposal will "improve quality and expand access to preschool" by, among other things, using federal funding incentives to require states "to meet quality benchmarks that are linked to better outcomes for children."  There is justifiable skepticism, however, regarding the quality of those benchmarks and whether they are really linked to higher student results.

Obama Appears to Have Exaggerated Effects of Sequester on 'Head Start'.  In the days leading up to sequestration, President Obama and other administration officials often singled out Head Start as one of the vital programs that would be severely impacted by the automatic spending cuts.  Phrases like "70,000 kids get thrown off of Head Start" and "70,000 young children would be kicked off Head Start" were common refrains. [...] However, a look at recent Head Start enrollment numbers and budgets calls that assertion into question.

Obama Should Admit That Dan Quayle Had It Right.  Late last year, the Department of Health and Human Services released results of a rigorous study showing that the Head Start program, costing $8 billion a year, has had little or no effect on the cognitive, physical or emotional well-being of kids once they reach third grade.  This was clearly what President Obama didn't want people to hear, and we can't help but wonder why the study, completed in October, was not made public until the Friday before Christmas.  Undaunted by the data, Obama now wants to replicate the ineffectiveness of Head Start on a much bigger scale.

The Risk of Obama's Universal Daycare.  Heavy-handed state intrusion always beings innocuously, a "good idea" to cure a seeming intractable problem but as one intervention after the next falls short, state power expands and personal freedom slips away.  Obama's initiative is only emerging but its key elements are clear.  A state-federal partnership will guarantee a pre-kindergarten education to every family whose income falls below 200% of the poverty line ($38,000 for a single parent with two children).  Head Start will also be massively expanded (it currently consumes $7.6 billion).

Welcome To Your 21st Century Global Educational System.  We are entering into a new era of education with a global curriculum designed by the United Nations that will be implemented not just in developing countries, but right here in the United States.  Once our daycares are forced to shut their doors because of purposeful and costly over-regulation by state and federal governments, babies will be forced into the 0-12 educational system and the educational leaders will have accomplished their goal of compulsory education for even the youngest in our society.  Once all children are herded into the public school system (because homeschooling will no longer be allowed), this is what our newly transformed educational system will look like.

The Definition Of Liberal Is To Take Failed Program And "Double Down And Make It Universal".  We have created already, with under Obama, the biggest entitlement in 50 years.  And now he wants to create a new entitlement for preschool for every 4-year-old in the country.  The worst part of this, this isn't just any new entitlement.  This is an entitlement in an area where we know the $7 billion a year that we spend on Head Start doesn't make any difference after the third grade.

Head Start fails kids and taxpayers.  Head Start, the federally funded education program for low-income children, doesn't give participants the developmental boost it's supposed to offer.  According to a study released last month by the US. Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start students aren't any farther along than students in the same demographic who didn't attend the program.  Head Start offers traditional classroom education and in-home learning opportunities for children from birth to five years old.  The program's apparent failure comes at a high cost. Taxpayers give Head Start $8 billion a year, roughly $7,000 for each of the 900,000 low-income children it serves.

HHS Study: Yep, Head Start doesn't work.  It's a heart-string puller.  It has its roots deep in the Great Society, established in 1965 and expanded over the years to become one of the country's longest-running programs to combat the effects of poverty.  More than 20 million American children have gone through the program, which is designed to impart parenting skills to parents, and cognitive, emotional, and health improvements to children.  Over the years, the program has cost $180 billion.  For the second time in two years, a Congressionally mandated study of the Health and Human Services program has shown it does not work.

Head Start Impact Evaluation Report Finally Released.  Since 1965, taxpayers have spent more than $180 billion on Head Start.  Yet, over the decades, this Great Society relic has failed to improve academic outcomes for the children it was designed to help. [...] President Obama has pledged to use only one test when determining which education programs to fund:  "It's not whether an idea is liberal or conservative," Obama stated, "but whether it works."  HHS's third-grade follow-up evaluation makes it unequivocally clear that Head Start fails that test.  HHS has released definitive evidence that the federal government's 48-year experiment with Head Start has failed children and left taxpayers a tab of more than $180 billion.