Head Start: Ensuring Dollars Benefit the Children. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, First Session (April 5, 2005). Senate Hearing 109-119

In his opening statement, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman, Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development, stated that one responsibility of Congress is to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent for the purposes intended and for the children intended. Between January 2003 and the first months of this year, there were numerous accounts from communities across the country of serious financial abuses or irregularities by individuals or entities entrusted with Head Start dollars. That is why the House and Senate Education Committee leaders asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look into allegations of financial abuse and irregularities by the local agencies or individuals entrusted with Head Start funds. The purpose of this hearing was to consider the findings of the GAO report as well as its recommendations for how the Department of Health and Human Services can do a better job of overseeing the spending of Head Start money. Among those testifying were witnesses, representatives of the writers of the GAO report and of the Federal managers of the Head Start money as well as representatives from the community agencies that actually administer and use the Head Start money. Testifying before the Subcommittee were: Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chairman, Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development; Michael B. Enzi, Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA); Wade Horn, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Marnie S. Shaul, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Christopher Dodd (D-CT); Jim Caccamo, Director, Metropolitan Council on Early Learning, Kansas City, MO; A.C. Wharton, Mayor, Shelby County, TN; Yvonne Gates, Director for Marketing and Community Relations, Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach, Clark County, NV; Olivia A. Golden, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute; and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). Additional material (statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.) were submitted by: Wade F. Horn (in response to questions of Senator Enzi); Wade F. Horn (in response to questions of Senator Ensign); Government Accountability Office (in response to questions of Senator Alexander); Mayor A.C. Wharton (in response to question of Senator Alexander); and Olivia A. Golden (in response to questions of Senator Enzi). (Contains 4 figures.)