The Office of Head Start today announced a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in regard to Head Start Service Duration Requirements. The proposed change would remove requirements for all Head Start programs to serve 100 percent of their preschool center-based children for a full school day and a full school year (1,020 annual hours) by August 1, 2021.  This NPRM was published in the Federal Register on March 26, 2019. The standard proposed to be removed only applies to Head Start preschool center-based programs. Early Head Start center-based programs are still required to served children for 1,380 annual hours, which provides year-round care. 

According to the Office of Head Start website, the goal of this NPRM is to:

• Restore to programs the autonomy and flexibility to design program schedules that best meet their community needs
• Increase transparency for and reduce regulatory burden on programs
• Prevent a possible large reduction in the number of children served as the result of a federal requirement.

The article notes that individual programs may still choose to offer full school day and full school year services or more, if that schedule meets their community needs.

The NPRM may be reviewed here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/03/26/2019-05363/head-start-service-duration-requirements 

The Office of Head Start is seeking comments on this NPRM between Tuesday, March 25 and Saturday, May 25, 2019. The preferred method to submit comments is electronically, using the "Submit a Comment" instructions in the Federal Register website. Other methods of submitting comments on the NPRM can be found at the Office of Head Start website announcement.

T/TAS at WKU encourages you to:

1. Read the full announcement from the Office of Head Start here (https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/policy/article/notice-proposed-rule-making-nprm-head-start-service-duration-requirements)
2. Read the full Proposed Rule on the Federal Register here (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/03/26/2019-05363/head-start-service-duration-requirements)
3. Submit your comments and feedback as instruction on the Proposed Rule site

_________________________

J. Christopher Watkins, Executive Director
Training & Technical Assistance Services (T/TAS)
Western Kentucky University

800.882.7482
www.ttas.org
ttas.info@wku.edu

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