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Head Start officials warn on
immigration bill
By Deborah Yetter dyetter@ courier-journal.com
*J anuary 21, 2011
Kentucky's Head Start officials are warning
that a controversial Senate-passed
immigration bill could have a devastating
impact on the early childhood education
program for poor children — including the
loss of up to $130 million a year in federal
funds.
Prospects for the measure, Senate Bill 6,
are poor in the House. But Bob Wilcher,
executive director of the Kentucky Head
Start Association, warned in a J an 10 letter
to House Speaker Greg Stumbo of
“disastrous consequences” should the bill
become law.
Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, sent
copies of the letter Friday to all 100 House
members, saying it contained “troubling
news.”
‘The plain language of the Senate bill
would cripple the provision of essential
Head Start service in several ways,” Stumbo
said in a separate letter to representatives.
Senate President David Williams, R-
Burkesville, who supports the bill, and Sen.
J ohn Schickel, R-Union, the sponsor of SB
6, could not be reached Friday for
comment.
SB 6 includes provisions that make it a
crime to “harbor or shield” illegal aliens
and requires police to seize any vehicle
used to transport them.
Wilcher said in his letter that SB 6 could be
used to prosecute the 3,500 teachers and
other staff who serve the roughly 17,500
children enrolled in Kentucky Head Start
programs. It also could allow police to
seize buses that take children to school, his
letter said.
And it could place the state’s Head Start
funds at risk by exceeding federal r
egulations for eligibility in the program,
Wilcher's letter said. Under federal rules,
eligibility is strictly income-based.
Wilcher said Head Start provides an
essential service in Kentucky, where about 0
ne in four children live in poverty.
“For many of our children, the one and only
route out of poverty will be determined by
that child’s ability to succeed in school,”
his letter said.
The Senate bill already has sparked
opposition from religious leaders,
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advocates for domestic violence victims
and others who say people engaged in
humanitarian work could be prosecuted for
assisting unauthorized aliens in need of
food, housing or protection from abuse.
The Presbyterian Church U.S.A., which is
based in Louisville, has warned lawmakers
the organization will not hold national
meetings or conventions in Kentucky should
the bill become law.
The Rev. Patrick Delahanty, executive
director of the Catholic Conference of
Kentucky, said the Head Start concerns are
yet another reason lawmakers should
reject SB 6, which he said is too punitive
and offers no solutions.
“It touches so many areas of life in
Kentucky that no one has even thought
about,” Delahanty said. ‘That's
dangerous.”
Rep. Rick Rand, a Bedford Democrat who
is chairman of the House budget
committee, said news of the bill’s potential
impact on Head Start adds to his concerns
about it, even though lawmakers seek want
to address immigration issues.
‘This bill is far-reaching and we're
discovering it’s going to be extremely
expensive to implement,” Rand said. “Wen
eed to find the best and least costly
solution, and I’m not sure this is it.”
Reporter Deborah Y etter can be reached at
(502) 582-4228.
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