mr. chairman , i thank the chairman for yielding me time , and i also thank him for his tremendous work in bringing this bill together . 
it is not always that easy . 
he has done a superb job working with the other side . 
i do rise today to ask everybody here to support the legislation which will reauthorize the head start program . 
i , like i think most of us , if not all of us , believe very strongly in the head start program , and i believe that this act emphasizes every child , regardless of his or her economic status , should have the best chance possible to succeed . 
in 1965 , head start was created to give economically disadvantaged children access to the same educational , health , nutritional , social , and other services that were enjoyed by their more affluent peers . 
the goal of the program was , as it remains today , to provide children a solid foundation that will prepare them for success in school and later in life . 
as the centerpiece of the federal government 's efforts to support quality early childhood education for our nation 's most disadvantaged youth , head start has served nearly 20 million low-income children and their families . 
currently , head start serves over 900 , 000 children every day and has nearly 1 , 600 grantees across the united states . 
in my home state of delaware , head start programs serve over 1 , 500 children , with almost 500 additional 4-year-olds receiving assistance through state government funding . 
we all can agree on the need for head start and its successes . 
we must also recognize head start can produce even greater results for children . 
children who attend head start programs start school more prepared than those with similar backgrounds that do not attend head start . 
however , head start students continue to enter kindergarten well below national norms in school readiness . 
by moving to close the school readiness gap , this bill will improve results for almost 1 million head start students across the nation . 
towards the goal of closing the readiness gap , the school readiness act strengthens head start 's academic focus while maintaining its comprehensive nature that is imperative to its success . 
the bill improves the academic focus of the program by establishing new quality standards that ensure enrolled children develop and demonstrate language skills ; pre-reading knowledge ; including an interest in and appreciation of books ; reading and writing ; pre-math knowledge such as recognition of numbers and counting ; cognitive abilities related to academic achievement ; and social development important for environments constructive for child development , early learning , and school success . 
research clearly and consistently demonstrates a link between the learning potential of children and the level of education and training of classroom teachers . 
for that reason , we improve the quality of teachers in head start classrooms by requiring that , in time , 50 percent of all head start teachers nationwide must have a baccalaureate degree . 
i am sure some of my colleagues were pleased to learn that this bill does not include a block grant or a state demonstration project . 
i believe strongly , however , in the policy goals of coordination and integration that were at the heart of the demonstration project incorporated in the legislation i introduced last congress . 
we continue to believe it is essential to remove barriers and prevent collaboration between head start and successful state and local early childhood initiatives , and i believe the proposal we are offering will , in fact , go further to foster integration among quality early childhood programs . 
about 40 states , including delaware , have established some form of early childhood education , because states recognize that these services can make a real difference in preparing children for a successful future . 
various local initiatives have been launched , and today , disadvantaged children and families have access to programs and services from a wide range of sources . 
some of these programs rival or exceed the quality of head start , while others fall short . 
head start is no longer the only option for early childhood education . 
we must ensure that all children are receiving the same quality education . 
in this new era , head start should be working towards integrating services with other school readiness programs , not competing against them . 
where we previously would have allowed no more than eight states to improve head start coordination with state and local efforts , this bill will ensure programs in all 50 states are able to increase collaboration . 
we are encouraging head start grantees to align their academics with state-developed k-through-12 content standards , as well as to have a more active partnership with local school districts that serve the same communities . 
this will help to facilitate a smooth transition to kindergarten for their students . 
finally , we are asking early childhood providers in a state , including head start , preschool and child care , to come together to identify ways to integrate school readiness initiatives across the state . 
as i have said , i believe in the program , particularly because of how the program helps children later in their academic lives . 
despite these stories , we have also heard many stories of programs in which funds were being diverted away from this purpose . 
the gao recently released a report that warned the financial control system in the federal head start early childhood program is flawed and failing to prevent multimillion-dollar financial abuses that cheat poor children , taxpayers , and law-abiding head start operators . 
the gao made a couple of recommendations on how we can strengthen the oversight structure to prevent abuses and protect good grantees . 
it recommended that increased competition in the program could help weed out poorly performing grantees and ensure high-quality services are available to children and families . 
in response to the gao 's recommendations , we are increasing the competitive nature of current program . 
the competition requirements in the school readiness act will help to alleviate these programs , but more importantly , will drive program improvement across the board , program improvements that will ultimately help thousands of children nationwide , which should always be our goal . 
this is an important and a very popular program . 
the importance of early childhood education services can not be overstated , and i believe strongly in the reforms which are here . 
i would say finally , although we may have some disagreement about some of the amendments on this legislation , that ultimately getting all these children up to the starting line equal in school , and particularly those who are at 100 percent of poverty or less , is in the best interests of all of us in congress and all the kids out there in the united states of america . 
i hope we can go forward with good legislation to make a very good program even better than it is . 
