mr. chairman , i appreciate the gentleman for yielding me time . 
i thank the chairman for agreeing to this colloquy in order to shine a light on an unfortunate recurring situation in some head start agencies . 
stories of corrupt agencies have been surfacing recently all over the nation , complete with allegations of administrators ' misconduct with federal funds and financial conflicts of interest between board members and vendors . 
accountability is a critical component of this reauthorization , and i thank the chairman for his commitment for addressing it . 
on february 10 of this year , i introduced h.r. 778 , the head start accountability act of 2005 , to address the misuse and abuse of federal funds occurring in an agency in my district as well as others . 
the polk county opportunity council has had a decade-long history in fundamental flaws in both operations and management . 
pcoc has displayed an obvious lack of internal controls and , worse , a blatant disregard for its fiduciary responsibilities associated with proper stewardship of federal grant funds . 
there is documented evidence that this organization has misused federal dollars and made several excessive and unnecessary expenditures , including the approval of $ 150 , 000 for repairs to a parking lot , repairs that had a quoted cost of just $ 20 , 000 . 
they also obtained $ 90 , 000 in federal funds to repair some head start facilities reportedly damaged in last summer 's hurricanes that tore through florida . 
however , their insurance inspection determined that the facilities had no damage . 
i could go on and on listing examples of financial mismanagement at this agency . 
i introduced the head start accountability act to immediately address the seemingly unending pattern that was developing in that agency and similar organizations . 
h.r. 778 's major provisions would address the most glaring improprieties . 
among the provisions in h.r. 778 , the bill calls for automatic recompetition of all federal head start federal grants every 5 years , establishes new board requirements , adds tighter fiscal control requirements at the local level . 
mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for recognizing the importance of these provisions and including the key principles in this reauthorization . 
under his leadership , we are finally moving toward financial accountability . 
i look forward to working with my colleague in the future toward further refinement of these accountability measures . 
