Some 45 percent of the children in Lee County schools are eligible for free or reduced lunch. About 4,500 entered school for the first time last year. We know there's a lot more kids out there who are eligible. Around since 1965 and the last of former President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs, Head Start follows strict quality standards. Staff members must be state certified teachers, meaning they at least need a bachelor's degree.
Children get health and social services.
Teachers visit children's homes. They will be less likely to become pregnant as teen-agers, less likely to be in special education classes, less likely to be on the public dole. It actually is a cost-effective program. The results of subsidized child care can be even more immediate. Catherine Palmisano is able to work and go to school at Florida Gulf Coast University while her daughter is in day care at Brightest Horizons Mission Child Development and Outreach Center, where all the children get subsidized care.