ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
On the advice of the state attorney general's office, the Department of Social Servicesis dropping plans to charge the working poor 10 percent of their income to keep their children in Head Start programs.
The state agency sent a one-paragraph computer message to local offices Thursday rescinding the policy, which had been controversial since it was announced last fall.
Departments were instructed not to charge Head Start families living at or below the federal poverty level - a monthly gross income of $1,263 for a family of four. The message gave no explanation.
The departments were scheduled to begin charging the fees Monday.
Statewide, a majority of families that have children enrolled in all-day Head Start programs would have had to pay, according to a state survey. Fewer than 5 percent of families who receive all-day Head Start services live above the federal poverty level.
Last summer, Gov. George Allen shifted the management of federal child development block grant funds - most of the money is used to subsidize full-day Head Start services - from the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs to the state Department of Social Services. The council contracts with the department to administer the funds.
That put the funding under new guidelines requiring parents to pay 10 percent of their gross income toward the cost.
Why the Social Services Department repealed the policy is not clear. Elizabeth Ruppert, executive director of the child care council, declined to discuss it, referring questions to Carol Brunty, the state social services commissioner. Brunty was out of the office until Tuesday.
And a spokesman for the attorney general's office, which had been reviewing the policy, declined Thursday to say why it had advised that the policy be dropped.
Some sources said the state didn't have the authority to institute the fee. They said the policy required an amendment to a plan that the child care council submits to the federal government, outlining how it spends child development block grant funds. The plan was not amended, they said.
As six members of the House Appropriations Committee pointed out this month in a letter referred to the attorney general's office, the General Assembly specified during its last session that block grant funds be spent according to that plan. The plan specifies that families with children enrolled in the Head Start program not pay a fee.
The 10 percent payment has been a source of controversy since October, when families were notified that they would have to pay for a service they had received at no cost. A group of Head Start parents in Roanoke - many of them live on limited incomes - held a news conference in November to protest the new policy. They sent news releases to Head Start centers all over the state.
Their actions triggered a statewide movement against the policy. State legislators weighed in, including Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke.
Woodrum met with Ruppert and Brunty in Richmond last week. He said they indicated then that the fee policy would not go into effect Monday, as initially planned.
Despite the policy repeal, Woodrum said he still plans to propose legislation to prohibit the department from charging the 10 percent payment.
"I feel reasonably pleased, but I'm concerned that this has happened at all," Woodrum said. "It's been a disruption in people's lives and children's progress."
Total Action Against Poverty, which operates Head Start programs in the Roanoke area, had been preparing for the new policy.
Katie Weddington, TAP's supervisor of family services and parent involvement, said a full-day class was being converted into part-day. Some parents already had decided to pull their children out because they couldn't make the 10 percent payment. A staff member was about to be laid off.
"I'm really happy to hear that the quality of life that our families are working so hard to maintain and improve is going to be preserved," she said.
Mitzi Cotton and her husband, Samuel, have two children in the Head Start program at Roanoke's Jefferson Center. The Cottons worried what paying 10 percent of their gross income for Head Start services would do to their already tight budget.
The new fee policy would have taken $154 out of their gross monthly income.
Wednesday, the couple received a letter from the Department of Social Services notifying them that their fee had been reduced from $154 to zero.
"I was ecstatic," Mitzi Cotton said. "We were looking at having to pay bills or taking the kids out [of Head Start]. I didn't want to do that because it's been so good for them."
Head Start is a federal program for preschool children from low-income families. The children are those identified as being at risk for school failure.
Cotton, who works part time at First Baptist Church's child development program, is pursuing a degree in childhood education at Virginia Western Community College. She is scheduled to resume classes Jan. 13.
"I didn't want to stop my classes, but something was going to have to give," she said. "This takes a load off of us."
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