Maine is unlikely to be one of the eight states to pilot a new Head Start funding model. Nonetheless, child advocate Elinor Goldberg of the Maine Children’s Alliance said Tuesday she’s skeptical of the Bush administration’s proposal to make Head Start funds available to other educational programs through funding resembling block grants.

Goldberg is “very concerned” that the block grant model proposed by Rep. Michael Castle, R-Delaware, in the School Readiness Act of 2003 might be a first step toward dismantling the 38-year-old program that provides education, health care and social services to the country’s poorest children and their families. The bill, which would increase support for educational goals and downplay other services, has strong support among House Republicans.

About 4,000 Maine children up to age 5 take advantage of Head Start in 280 sites across the state, with a current budget of approximately $26 million. An estimated 1,200 more are eligible but unable to find space in existing programs because of inadequate funding.

Castle’s bill, scheduled to be heard in the House this week, would increase funding nationwide from $6.6 billion to $8.8 billion in the coming fiscal year. It also would set new educational standards, such as requiring Head Start teachers to have college degrees.

States choosing to participate in the pilot program would receive funding at the state level and be allowed to integrate Head Start with other academic programs. The pilot study would last five years and be evaluated by the National Institute of Science at the three-year mark.

Castle’s bill draws support from a recently released study by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Head Start program. The report indicates that Head Start graduates demonstrate a 25 percent “readiness gap” in their school preparedness compared to the national average.

Parker Hamilton, a spokesperson for the committee that compiled the report, said Tuesday that Republicans recognize Head Start as a successful program that needs strengthening. Its early success in helping disadvantaged children prepare for school has been outstripped by other preschool programs that didn’t exist when Head Start was established, she said.

Hamilton said some states offering Head Start in competition with other public preschool programs have created a two-tiered system in which Head Start enrollees are stigmatized and lag behind children from more affluent families. The integrated funding proposed in Castle’s bill is a way to close the gap, she said.

The Republican bill is opposed by House Democrats, including Maine’s 2nd District Rep. Michael Michaud. In a press release issued by Michaud’s office Tuesday, the congressman said Head Start’s track record demonstrates its effectiveness in overcoming the disadvantages of childhood poverty.

A study Michaud commissioned from the Minority Staff of the Committee on Government Reform found that if the proposed changes were to be implemented in Maine, the 2,400 low-income children in the 2nd District who attend Head Start could lose access to the program’s comprehensive services. Those include medical care, immunizations, dental care and social services as well as educational preparation.

“For years, Head Start has followed a formula that works, providing education and care for a wide range of a child’s needs,” Michaud said. “Head Start is one of our greatest success stories, and it is dangerous to tamper with that kind of success.”

A Head Start reauthorization bill is being drafted in the Senate for consideration in the fall.