HR 1429 PCS
‘‘(c) PROGRAM GOVERNANCE.—Head Start agencies 
must establish and maintain a formal structure of shared 
governance through which an independent governing body 
with legal and fiscal responsibility for administering and 
overseeing programs under this subchapter and a parent 
policy council and parent policy committee, as appropriate, 
shall ensure that such agency operates a high quality 
Head Start program in compliance with all applicable 
Federal, State, and local laws. 
‘‘(1) GOVERNING BODY.— 
‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.—The governing body 
shall be composed as follows: 
‘‘(i) Not less than 1 member with sig-
nificant financial management or account-
ing experience. 
‘‘(ii) Not less than 1 member shall 
have a background and expertise in early 
childhood development. 
‘‘(iii) Not less than 1 member shall be 
a licensed attorney familiar with issues 
that come before the governing body. 
‘‘(iv) Additional members shall be se-
lected for their expertise in education, 
business administration, and community 
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affairs and shall reflect the community 
served. 
‘‘(v) Exceptions shall be made when 
members of the governing body oversee a 
public entity and are selected by public 
election or are political appointments. 
‘‘(B) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—Members 
of the governing body shall— 
‘‘(i) not have a conflict of interest 
with the Head Start agency or delegate 
agencies, exceptions shall be made when a 
board member of a public entity is selected 
by election or politically appointed; 
‘‘(ii) not receive compensation for the 
purposes of serving on the governing body 
or for providing services to the Head Start 
agency, exceptions shall be made when a 
board member of a public entity is selected 
by election or politically appointed; 
‘‘(iii) not be employed nor shall mem-
bers of their immediate family be employed 
by the Head Start agency or one of its del-
egate agencies, exceptions shall be made 
when a board member of a public entity is 
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selected by election or politically appointed; 
and 
‘‘(iv) operate as an entity independent 
of staff employed by the Head Start agen-
cy entity or applicant, exceptions shall be 
made when a board member of a public en-
tity is selected by election or politically ap-
pointed. 
‘‘(C) CONSULTANTS.—In the case that 
persons described in subparagraph (A) are not 
available to serve as members, the governing 
body shall make use of consultants in the areas 
described in subparagraph (A) to work directly 
with the governing body. 
‘‘(D) TRAINING.—All members of the gov-
erning body shall receive training in manage-
ment responsibilities and obligations, ethics, 
and financial literacy management. 
‘‘(E) RESPONSIBILITIES
OF
GOVERNING 
BODY.—The governing body shall be responsible 
for— 
‘‘(i) adoption of practices that assure 
active, independent and informed govern-
ance of the Head Start agency; 
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‘‘(ii) oversight to ensure that the 
Head Start agency under the direction of 
the executive director is delivering high 
quality services to children and families in 
compliance with all applicable standards in 
effect under this subchapter and with the 
applicable performance measures estab-
lished by the Secretary under section 644; 
‘‘(iii) establish an audit and finance 
committee whose primary responsibility 
shall be— 
‘‘(I) to approve annually the op-
erating budget of the Head Start 
agency; 
‘‘(II) to review and recommend 
to the governing body the selection of 
independent auditors who shall report 
all critical accounting policies and 
practices to the finance and audit 
committee, except when the auditor is 
assigned by the State under State 
law; 
‘‘(III) to review and recommend 
to the governing body the termination 
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or extension of the existing audit firm 
at least once every 5 years; 
‘‘(IV) to review and advise the 
governing body of the audit manage-
ment letter provided pursuant to the 
chapter 75 of title 31, United States 
Code, and of any audit findings; and 
‘‘(V) to monitor agency actions to 
correct any such audit findings or 
other actions necessary to comply with 
applicable laws (including regulations) 
governing financial statements and ac-
counting practices; 
‘‘(iv) approve all major policies of the 
agency, including the mission of the agency 
and policies addressing accounting, finan-
cial management, procurement, record con-
fidentiality, and personnel (including spe-
cific standards governing salaries, salary 
adjustments, travel and per diem allow-
ances, and other employee benefits); 
‘‘(v) approve all major financial ex-
penditures of the agency; 
‘‘(vi) approve the selection or dis-
missal of the Head Start Director or the 
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equivalent position within the Head Start 
agency; 
‘‘(vii) approve or disapprove all poli-
cies, applications, and decisions of the Pol-
icy Council made under the authority of 
paragraph (2); 
‘‘(viii) to oversee the program plan-
ning of the Head Start agency, including 
adoption of policies for setting long- and 
short-range goals and objectives; 
‘‘(ix) oversee and approve the agency’s 
applications to receive funds made avail-
able under this subchapter; and 
‘‘(x) to establish, adopt and periodi-
cally update written standards of conduct 
that establish standards and formal proce-
dures for disclosing, addressing, and re-
solving— 
‘‘(I) any conflict of interest, and 
any appearance of a conflict of inter-
est, by members of the governing 
body, officers, employees, consultants 
and agents who provide services or 
furnish goods to the Head Start agen-
cy; and 
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‘‘(II) complaints, including inves-
tigations, when appropriate. 
‘‘(2) POLICY COUNCIL.— 
‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.—The Policy Council 
or Policy Committee, as appropriate, shall be 
composed as follows: 
‘‘(i) Members of the Policy Council 
shall be either parents of children currently 
enrolled in the Head Start agency’s (or 
delegate’s) Head Start or Early Head 
Start program or that are parents of chil-
dren who were enrolled in the program in 
the previous year (Parent Members) or 
shall be members of the community served 
by the Head Start agency or delegate 
(Community Members). 
‘‘(ii) Parent members of the Policy 
Council shall constitute a majority of the 
members of the Policy Council and shall be 
elected by parents of currently enrolled 
children. 
‘‘(iii) Parent members shall represent, 
proportionately, all program options and 
settings operated by the Head Start agen-
cy or delegate. 
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‘‘(iv) The term of a Policy Council 
member shall be no more than 2 years and 
no Policy Council member shall serve 
longer than 6 years. 
‘‘(B) RESPONSIBILITIES OF POLICY COUN-
CIL.—In order to be designated as a Head 
Start agency, an entity or delegate of such an 
entity shall have a Policy Council which shall 
approve and submit to the governing body deci-
sions about the following activities: 
‘‘(i) The strategic direction of the pro-
gram, including long and short-term plan-
ning goals and objectives (such planning 
and goals shall take into account the an-
nual community assessment and self-as-
sessment). 
‘‘(ii) Selection of delegate agencies 
and their service areas. 
‘‘(iii) Recruitment, selection and en-
rollment priorities. 
‘‘(iv) 
Funding 
applications 
and 
amendments to funding applications for 
Head Start or Early Head Start prior to 
submission of such applications. 
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‘‘(v) Budget planning for program ex-
penditures. 
‘‘(vi) Bylaws for the operation of the 
Policy Council including procedures by 
which Policy Council members are chosen. 
‘‘(vii) Program personnel policies, in-
cluding standards of conduct for program 
staff, contractors and volunteers. 
‘‘(viii) Decisions regarding employ-
ment of Head Start staff other than the 
director and executive director. 
‘‘(ix) Activities to support the active 
involvement of parents in supporting pro-
gram operations. 
‘‘(x) Program responsiveness to com-
munity and parent needs. 
‘‘(C) TRAINING.—Appropriate training and 
technical assistance shall be provided to the 
members of the Policy Council to ensure that 
the members understand the information the 
members receive and effectively oversee and 
participate in the programs of the Head Start 
agency or delegate. 
‘‘(3) IMPASSE POLICY.—The Secretary shall de-
velop policies and procedures describing how Head 
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Start agencies will implement shared decision-mak-
ing, including a process for resolving any impasse 
between the Governing Body and the Policy Council. 
‘‘(d) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—To be 
so designated, a Head Start agency must collaborate and 
coordinate with public and private entities to improve the 
available services to Head Start children and families, in-
cluding the following activities: 
‘‘(1) Conduct outreach to schools in which chil-
dren participating in Head Start programs enroll, 
local educational agencies, the local business commu-
nity, community-based organizations, faith-based or-
ganizations, museums, and libraries to generate sup-
port and leverage the resources of the entire local 
community in order to improve school readiness. 
‘‘(2) In communities where both public pre-
kindergarten programs and Head Start programs 
operate, a Head Start agency shall collaborate and 
coordinate activities with the local educational agen-
cy or other public agency responsible for the oper-
ation of the prekindergarten program and providers 
of prekindergarten, including outreach activities to 
identify eligible children, as possible. 
‘‘(3) Head Start agency staff shall, with the 
permission of the parents of children enrolled in 
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Head Start programs, regularly communicate with 
the elementary schools such children will be attend-
ing— 
‘‘(A) to share information about such chil-
dren; and 
‘‘(B) to ensure a smooth transition to ele-
mentary school for such children. 
‘‘(4) Each Head Start agency shall collaborate, 
as appropriate, with providers of social and commu-
nity services available to children and families par-
ticipating in Head Start programs, and may support 
such partnerships with financial agreements, when 
applicable, for the provision of such services. 
‘‘(5) A Head Start agency shall take steps to 
coordinate activities with the local educational agen-
cy serving the community involved and with schools 
in which children participating in a Head Start pro-
gram operated by such agency will enroll following 
such program, including— 
‘‘(A) collaborating on the shared use of 
transportation and facilities; 
‘‘(B) collaborating to enhance the effi-
ciency of services while increasing the program 
participation of underserved populations of eli-
gible children; and 
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‘‘(C) exchanging information on the provi-
sion of noneducational services to such children. 
‘‘(6) The Secretary, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Education, shall— 
‘‘(A) evaluate the effectiveness of the 
projects and activities funded under section 
642A; 
‘‘(B) disseminate to Head Start agencies 
information (including information from the 
evaluation required by subparagraph (A)) on ef-
fective policies and activities relating to the 
transition of children from Head Start pro-
grams to public schools; and 
‘‘(C) provide technical assistance to such 
agencies to promote and assist such agencies to 
adopt and implement such effective policies and 
activities. 
‘‘(e) QUALITY STANDARDS, CURRICULA AND ASSESS-
MENT.—To be so designated, each Head Start agency 
shall— 
‘‘(1) take steps to ensure, to the maximum ex-
tent possible, that children maintain the develop-
mental and educational gains achieved in Head Start 
programs and build upon such gains in further 
schooling; 
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‘‘(2) establish a program with standards set 
forth in section 641A(a)(1), with particular atten-
tion to the standards set forth in subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) of such section; 
‘‘(3) implement a research-based early child-
hood curriculum that promotes young children’s 
school readiness in the areas of language and cog-
nitive 
development, 
early 
reading 
and 
premathematics skills, socio-emotional development, 
physical development, and approaches to learning. 
Such curricula shall be— 
‘‘(A) based on scientifically based research 
and have standardized training procedures and 
curriculum materials to support implementa-
tion; 
‘‘(B) comprehensive, linked to ongoing as-
sessment, with developmental and learning 
goals and measurable objectives; and focused on 
improving the learning environment, teaching 
practices, family involvement, and child out-
comes across all areas of development; and 
‘‘(C) aligned to the Head Start Child Out-
comes Framework developed by the Secretary 
and to State early learning standards, as appro-
priate; 
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HR 1429 PCS
‘‘(4) use ongoing, research-based assessment 
methods that are developmentally appropriate, cul-
turally and linguistically responsive, and tied to chil-
dren’s daily activities in order to support the edu-
cational instruction of children in the program, in-
cluding language skills, prereading knowledge and 
premathematics knowledge. Assessment instruments 
shall be those designed and validated for making de-
cisions about teaching and learning and aligned with 
the programs curricula and section 641A(a)(1); 
‘‘(5) use high-quality research-based develop-
mental screening tools that have been demonstrated 
to be standardized, reliable, valid, and accurate for 
children from a range of racial, ethnic, linguistic, 
and cultural backgrounds, for the purpose of meet-
ing the relevant performance standards; 
‘‘(6) adopt, in consultation with experts in child 
development and with classroom teachers, an assess-
ment to be used when hiring or evaluating any class-
room teacher in a center-based Head Start program. 
Such assessment shall measure whether such teacher 
has mastered the functions described in section 
648A(a)(1) and attained a level of literacy appro-
priate to implement Head Start curricula; 
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HR 1429 PCS
‘‘(7) use the information provided from the as-
sessment conducted under section 640A(c)(2)(H) to 
adopt a professional development plan that leads to 
improved teacher effectiveness; 
‘‘(8) establish measurable objectives for the pro-
vision of health, educational, nutritional, and social 
services related to the program mission and to 
school readiness and provided under this subchapter; 
and 
‘‘(9) develop procedures for identifying children 
as limited English proficient, and inform the parents 
of such children as to the instructional services used 
to help children make progress towards acquiring 
the knowledge and skills described in section 
641A(a)(1)(B) and acquisition of the English lan-
guage. 
‘‘(f) FUNDED ENROLLMENT; WAITING LIST.—Each 
Head Start agency shall enroll 100 percent of its funded 
enrollment and maintain an active waiting list at all times 
with ongoing outreach to the community and activities to 
identify underserved populations. 
‘‘(g) 
TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE
AND
TRAINING 
PLAN.—In order to receive funds under this subchapter, 
a Head Start agency shall develop an annual technical as-
sistance and training plan. Such plan shall be based on 
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the agency’s self-assessment, the community-wide needs 
assessment, the needs of parents and children to be serv-
iced by such agency, and the results of the reviews con-
ducted under section 641A(c). 
‘‘(h) FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.—In order to receive 
funds under this subchapter, a Head Start agency shall 
document strong fiscal controls, including the employment 
of well-qualified fiscal staff with a history of successful 
management of a public or private organization.’’. 
SEC. 9. HEAD START TRANSITION AND ALIGNMENT WITH K– 
12 EDUCATION. 
Section 642A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 
9837a) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 642A. HEAD START TRANSITION AND ALIGNMENT 
WITH K–12 EDUCATION. 
‘‘Each Head Start agency shall take steps to coordi-
nate with the local educational agency serving the commu-
nity involved and with schools in which children partici-
pating in a Head Start program operated by such agency 
will enroll following such program to promote continuity 
of services and effective transitions, including— 
‘‘(1) developing and implementing a systematic 
procedure for transferring, with parental consent, 
Head Start program records for each participating 
child to the school in which such child will enroll; 
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