Sec. 640. [42 U.S.C. 9835]
(a)(1) Using the sums appropriated pursuant to section 639 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate such sums in accordance with paragraphs (2) through (5).
(2)(A) The Secretary shall determine an amount for each fiscal year for each State that is equal to the amount received through base grants for the prior fiscal year by the Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies) in the State that are not described in clause (ii) or (iii) of subparagraph (B).
(B) The Secretary shall reserve for each fiscal year such sums as are necessary—
(i) to provide each amount determined for a State under subparagraph (A) to the Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies) in the State that are not described in clause (ii) or (iii), by allotting to each agency described in this clause an amount equal to that agency’s base grant for the prior fiscal year;
(ii) to provide an amount for the Indian Head Start programs that is equal to the amount provided for base grants for such programs under this subchapter for the prior fiscal year, by allotting to each Head Start agency (including each Early Head Start agency) administering an Indian Head Start program an amount equal to that agency’s base grant for the prior fiscal year;
(iii) to provide an amount for the migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, on a nationwide basis, that is equal to the amount provided nationwide for base grants for such programs under this subchapter for the prior fiscal year, by allotting to each Head Start agency administering a migrant or seasonal Head Start program an amount equal to that agency’s base grant for the prior fiscal year;
(iv) to provide an amount for each of Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands of the United States (for Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies) in the jurisdiction) that is equal to the amount provided for base grants for such jurisdiction under this subchapter for the prior fiscal year, by allotting to each agency described in this clause an amount equal to that agency’s base grant for the prior fiscal year;
(v) to provide an amount for the Republic of Palau (for Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies) in the jurisdiction) for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009, and (if legislation approving a new agreement regarding United States assistance for the Republic of Palau has not been enacted by September 30, 2009) for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2012, that is equal to the amount provided for base grants for such jurisdiction under this subchapter for the prior fiscal year, by allotting to each agency described in this clause an amount equal to that agency’s base grant for the prior fiscal year; and
(vi) to provide an amount for a collaboration grant under section 642B(a) for each State, for the Indian Head Start programs, and for the migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, in the same amount as the corresponding collaboration grant provided under this subchapter for fiscal year 2007.
(C)(i) The Secretary shall reserve for each fiscal year an amount that is not less than 2.5 percent and not more than 3 percent of the sums appropriated pursuant to section 639 for that fiscal year, to fund training and technical assistance activities, from which reserved amount—
(I) the Secretary shall set aside a portion, but not less than 20 percent, to be used to fund training and technical assistance activities for Early Head Start programs, in accordance with section 645A(g)(2); and
(II) the Secretary shall set aside a portion, equal to the rest of the reserved amount, to fund training and technical assistance activities for other Head Start programs, in accordance with section 648, of which portion—
(aa) not less than 50 percent shall be made available to Head Start agencies to use directly, which may include at their discretion the establishment of local or regional agreements with community experts, institutions of higher education, or private consultants, to make program improvements identified by such agencies, by carrying out the training and technical assistance activities described in section 648(d);
(bb) not less than 25 percent shall be available to the Secretary to support a State-based training and technical assistance system, or a national system, described in section 648(e) for supporting program quality; and
(cc) the remainder of the portion set aside under this subclause shall be available to the Secretary to assist Head Start agencies in meeting and exceeding the standards described in section 641A(a)(1) by carrying out activities described in subsections (a), (b), (c), (f), and (g) of section 648, including helping Head Start programs address weaknesses identified by monitoring activities conducted by the Secretary under section 641A(c), except that not less than $3,000,000 of the remainder shall be made available to carry out activities described in section 648(a)(3)(B)(ii)
(ii) In determining the portion set aside under clause (i)(I) and the amount reserved under this subparagraph, the Secretary shall consider the number of Early Head Start programs newly funded for that fiscal year.
(D) The Secretary shall reserve not more than $20,000,000 to fund research, demonstration, and evaluation activities under section 649, of which not more than $7,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012 shall be available to carry out impact studies under section 649(g).
(E) The Secretary shall reserve not more than $42,000,000 for discretionary payments by the Secretary, including payments for all costs (other than compensation of Federal employees) for activities carried out under subsection (c) or (e) of section 641A.
(F) If the sums appropriated under section 639 are not sufficient to provide the amounts required to be reserved under subparagraphs (B) through (E), the amounts shall be reduced proportionately.
(G) Nothing in this section shall be construed to deny the Secretary the authority, consistent with sections 641, 641A, and 646 to terminate, suspend, or reduce funding to a Head Start agency
(3)(A) From any amount remaining for a fiscal year after the Secretary carries out paragraph (2) (referred to in this paragraph as the ‘remaining amount’), the Secretary shall—
(i) subject to clause (ii)—
(I) provide a cost of living increase for each Head Start agency (including each Early Head Start agency) funded under this subchapter for that fiscal year, to maintain the level of services provided during the prior year; and
(II) subject to subparagraph (B), provide $10,000,000 for Indian Head Start programs (including Early Head Start programs), and $10,000,000 for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, to increase enrollment in the programs involved;
(ii) subject to clause (iii), if the remaining amount is not sufficient to carry out clause (i)—
(I) for each of fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010—
(aa) subject to subparagraph (B), provide 5 percent of that amount for Indian Head Start programs (including Early Head Start programs), and 5 percent of that amount for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, to increase enrollment in the programs involved; and
(bb) use 90 percent of that amount to provide, for each Head Start agency (including each Early Head Start agency) funded as described in clause (i)(I), the same percentage (but not less than 50 percent) of the cost of living increase described in clause (i); and
(II) for fiscal year 2011 and each subsequent fiscal year—
(aa) provide, for each Head Start agency (including each Early Head Start agency) funded as described in clause (i)(I), the cost of living increase described in clause (i); and
(bb) subject to subparagraph (B), with any portion of the remaining amount that is not used under item (aa), provide equal amounts for Indian Head Start programs (including Early Head Start programs), and for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, to increase enrollment in the programs involved; and
(iii) if the remaining amount is not sufficient to carry out clause (ii) for the fiscal year involved, use that amount to provide, for each Head Start agency (including each Early Head Start agency) funded as described in clause (i)(I), the same percentage of the cost of living increase described in clause (i).
(B)(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph, the Indian Head Start programs shall not receive more than a total cumulative amount of $50,000,000 for all fiscal years, and the migrant and seasonal Head Start programs shall not receive more than a total cumulative amount of $50,000,000 for all fiscal years, under clause (i)(II), and subclauses (I)(aa) and (II)(bb) of clause (ii), of subparagraph (A) (referred to in this subsection as the ‘special expansion provisions’), to increase enrollment in the programs involved.
(ii)(I) Funds that are appropriated under section 639 for a fiscal year, and made available to Indian Head Start programs or migrant or seasonal Head Start programs under the special expansion provisions, shall remain available until the end of the following fiscal year.
(II) For purposes of subclause (I)—
(aa) if no portion is reallocated under clause (iii), those funds shall remain available to the programs involved; or
(bb) if a portion is reallocated under clause (iii), the portion shall remain available to the recipients of the portion.
(iii) Of the funds made available as described in clause (ii), the Secretary shall reallocate the portion that the Secretary determines is unobligated 18 months after the funds are made available. The Secretary shall add that portion to the balance described in paragraph (4), and reallocate the portion in accordance with paragraph (4), for the following fiscal year referred to in clause (ii).
(4)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), from any amount remaining for a fiscal year after the Secretary carries out paragraphs (2) and (3) (referred to in this paragraph as the ‘balance’), the Secretary shall—
(i) reserve 40 percent to carry out subparagraph (C) and paragraph (5);
(ii) reserve 45 percent to carry out subparagraph (D); and
(iii) reserve 15 percent (which shall remain available through the end of fiscal year 2012) to provide funds for carrying out section 642B(b)(2).
(B)(i) Under the circumstances described in clause (ii), from the balance, the Secretary shall—
(I) reserve 45 percent to carry out subparagraph (C) and paragraph (5); and
(II) reserve 55 percent to carry out subparagraph (D).
(ii) The Secretary shall make the reservations described in clause (i) for a fiscal year if—
(I) the total cumulative amount reserved under subparagraph (A)(iii) for all preceding fiscal years equals $100,000,000; or
(II) in the 2-year period preceding such fiscal year, funds were reserved under subparagraph (A)(iii) in an amount that totals not less than $15,000,000 and the Secretary received no approvable applications for such funds.
(iii) The total cumulative amount reserved under subparagraph (A)(iii) for all fiscal years may not be greater than $100,000,000.
(C) The Secretary shall fund the quality improvement activities described in paragraph (5) using the amount reserved under subparagraph (A)(i) or subparagraph (B)(i)(I), as appropriate, of which—
(i) a portion that is less than 10 percent may be reserved by the Secretary to provide funding to Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies) that demonstrate the greatest need for additional funding for such activities, as determined by the Secretary; and
(ii) a portion that is not less than 90 percent shall be reserved by the Secretary to allot, to each Head Start agency (including each Early Head Start agency), an amount that bears the same ratio to such portion as the number of enrolled children served by the agency involved bears to the number of enrolled children served by all the Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies), except that the Secretary shall account for the additional costs of serving children in Early Head Start programs and may consider whether an agency is providing a full-day program or whether an agency is providing a full-year program.
(D) The Secretary shall fund expansion of Head Start programs (including Early Head Start programs) using the amount reserved under subparagraph (A)(ii) or subparagraph (B)(i)(II), as appropriate, of which the Secretary shall—
(i) use 0.2 percent for Head Start programs funded under clause (iv) or (v) of paragraph (2)(B) (other than Early Head Start programs);
(ii) for any fiscal year after the last fiscal year for which Indian Head Start programs receive funds under the special expansion provisions, use 3 percent for Head Start programs funded under paragraph (2)(B)(ii) (other than Early Head Start programs), except that the Secretary may increase that percentage if the Secretary determines that the results of the study conducted under section 649(k) indicate that the percentage should be increased;
(iii) for any fiscal year after the last fiscal year for which migrant or seasonal Head Start programs receive funds under the special expansion provisions, use 4.5 percent for Head Start programs funded under paragraph (2)(B)(iii) (other than Early Head Start programs), except that the Secretary may increase that percentage if the Secretary determines that the results of the study conducted under section 649(l) indicate that the percentage should be increased; and
(iv) from the remainder of the reserved amount—
(I) use 50 percent for Head Start programs funded under paragraph (2)(B)(i) (other than Early Head Start programs), of which—
(aa) the covered percentage shall be allocated among the States serving less than 60 percent (as determined by the Secretary) of children who are 3 or 4 years of age from families whose income is below the poverty line, by allocating to each of those States an amount that bears the same relationship to that covered percentage as the number of children who are less than 5 years of age from families whose income is below the poverty line (referred to in this subclause as ‘young low-income children’) in that State bears to the number of young low-income children in all those States; and
(bb) the remainder shall be allocated proportionately among the States on the basis of the number of young low-income children; and
(II) use 50 percent for Early Head Start programs.
(E) In this paragraph, the term ‘covered percentage’ means—
(i) for fiscal year 2008, 30 percent;
(ii) for fiscal year 2009, 40 percent;
(iii) for fiscal year 2010, 50 percent;
(iv) for fiscal year 2011, 55 percent; and
(v) for fiscal year 2012, 55 percent.
(5)(A) Not less than 50 percent of the amount reserved under subparagraph (A)(i) or subparagraph (B)(i)(I), as appropriate, of paragraph (4) to carry out quality improvement activities under paragraph (4)(C) and this paragraph shall be used to improve the compensation (including benefits) of educational personnel, family service workers, and child counselors, as described in sections 644(a) and 653, in the manner determined by the Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies) involved, to—
(i) ensure that compensation is adequate to attract and retain qualified staff for the programs involved in order to enhance program quality;
(ii) improve staff qualifications and assist with the implementation of career development programs for staff that support ongoing improvement of their skills and expertise; and
(iii) provide education and professional development to enable teachers to be fully competent to meet the professional standards established under section 648A(a)(1), including—
(I) providing assistance to complete postsecondary course work;
(II) improving the qualifications and skills of educational personnel to become certified and licensed as bilingual education teachers, or as teachers of English as a second language; and
(III) improving the qualifications and skills of educational personnel to teach and provide services to children with disabilities.
(B) Any remaining funds from the reserved amount described in subparagraph (A) shall be used to carry out any of the following activities:
(i) Supporting staff training, child counseling, and other services, necessary to address the challenges of children from immigrant, refugee, and asylee families, homeless children, children in foster care, limited English proficient children, children of migrant or seasonal farmworker families, children from families in crisis, children referred to Head Start programs (including Early Head Start programs) by child welfare agencies, and children who are exposed to chronic violence or substance abuse.
(ii) Ensuring that the physical environments of Head Start programs are conducive to providing effective program services to children and families, and are accessible to children with disabilities and other individuals with disabilities.
(iii) Employing additional qualified classroom staff to reduce the child-to-teacher ratio in the classroom and additional qualified family service workers to reduce the family-to-staff ratio for those workers.
(iv) Ensuring that Head Start programs have qualified staff that promote the language skills and literacy growth of children and that provide children with a variety of skills that have been identified, through scientifically based reading research, as predictive of later reading achievement.
(v) Increasing hours of program operation, including—
(I) conversion of part-day programs to full-working day programs; and
(II) increasing the number of weeks of operation in a calendar year.
(vi) Improving communitywide strategic planning and needs assessments for Head Start programs and collaboration efforts for such programs, including outreach to children described in clause (i).
(vii) Transporting children in Head Start programs safely, except that not more than 10 percent of funds made available to carry out this paragraph may be used for such purposes.
(viii) Improving the compensation and benefits of staff of Head Start agencies, in order to improve the quality of Head Start programs.
(6) No sums appropriated under this subchapter may be combined with funds appropriated under any provision other than this subchapter if the purpose of combining funds is to make a single discretionary grant or a single discretionary payment, unless such sums appropriated under this subchapter are separately identified in such grant or payment and are used for the purposes of this subchapter.
(7) In this subsection:
(A) The term ‘base grant’, used with respect to a fiscal year, means the amount of permanent ongoing funding (other than funding described in sections 645A(g)(2)(A)(i) and paragraph (2)(C)(i)(II)(aa)) provided to a Head Start agency (including an Early Head Start agency) under this subchapter for that fiscal year.
(B) The term ‘cost-of-living increase’, used with respect to an agency for a fiscal year, means an increase in the funding for that agency, based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) for the prior fiscal year, calculated on the amount of the base grant for that agency for the prior fiscal year.
(C) For the purposes of this subsection, the term ‘State’ does not include Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands of the United States, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
(b) Financial assistance extended under this subchapter for a Head Start program shall not exceed 80 percent of the approved costs of the assisted program or activities, except that the Secretary may approve assistance in excess of such percentage if the Secretary determines that such action is required in furtherance of the purposes of this subchapter. For the purpose of making such determination, the Secretary shall take into consideration with respect to the Head Start program involved--
(1) the lack of resources available in the community that may prevent the Head Start agency from providing all or a portion of the non-Federal contribution that may be required under this subsection;
(2) the impact of the cost the Head Start agency may incur in initial years it carries out such program;
(3) the impact of an unanticipated increase in the cost the Head Start agency may incur to carry out such program;
(4) whether the Head Start agency is located in a community adversely affected by a major disaster; and
(5) the impact on the community that would result if the Head Start agency ceased to carry out such program. Non-Federal contributions may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, or services. The Secretary shall not require non-Federal contributions in excess of 20 percent of the approved costs of programs or activities assisted under this subchapter.
(c) No programs shall be approved for assistance under this subchapter unless the Secretary is satisfied that the services to be provided under such program will be in addition to, and not in substitution for, comparable services previously provided without Federal assistance. The requirement imposed by the preceding sentence shall be subject to such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe.
(d)(1) The Secretary shall establish policies and procedures to assure that, for fiscal year 2009 and thereafter, not less than 10 percent of the total number of children actually enrolled by each Head Start agency and each delegate agency will be children with disabilities who are determined to be eligible for special education and related services, or early intervention services, as appropriate, as determined under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), by the State or local agency providing services under section 619 or part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et seq.).
(2) Such policies and procedures shall ensure the provision of early intervening services, such as educational and behavioral services and supports, to meet the needs of children with disabilities, prior to an eligibility determination under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
(3) Such policies and procedures shall require Head Start agencies to provide timely referral to and collaborate with the State or local agency providing services under section 619 or part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to ensure the provision of special education and related services and early intervention services, and the coordination of programmatic efforts, to meet the special needs of such children.
(4) The Secretary shall establish policies and procedures to provide Head Start agencies with waivers of the requirements of paragraph (1) for not more than 3 years. Such policies and procedures shall require Head Start agencies, in order to receive such waivers, to provide evidence demonstrating that the Head Start agencies are making reasonable efforts on an annual basis to comply with the requirements of that paragraph.
(5) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit or create a right to a free appropriate public education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
(e) The Secretary shall adopt appropriate administrative measures to assure that the benefits of this subchapter will be distributed equitably between residents of rural and urban areas.
(f)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, the Secretary shall establish procedures to enable Head Start agencies to develop locally designed or specialized service delivery models to address local community needs, including models that leverage the capacity and capabilities of the delivery system of early childhood education and development services or programs.
(2) In establishing the procedures the Secretary shall establish procedures to provide for—
(A) the conversion of part-day programs to full-working day programs or part-day slots to full-working-day slots; and
(B) serving additional infants and toddlers pursuant to section 645(a)(5).
(g)(1) For the purpose of expanding Head Start programs, the Secretary shall take into consideration--
(A) the quality of the applicant's programs (including Head Start and other child care or child development programs) in existence on the date of the allocation, including, in the case of Head Start programs in existence on the date of the allocation, the extent to which such programs meet or exceed standards described in section 641A(a)(1) and other requirements under this subchapter, and the performance history of the applicant in providing services under other Federal programs (other than the program carried out under this subchapter);
(B) the applicant's capacity to expand services (including, in the case of Head Start programs in existence on the date of the allocation, whether the applicant accomplished any prior expansions in an effective and timely manner);
(C) the extent to which the applicant has undertaken a community-wide strategic planning and needs assessment involving other entities, including community organizations, and Federal, State, and local public agencies (including the local educational agency liaison designated under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii))), that provide services to children and families, such as—
(i) family support services;
(ii) child abuse prevention services;
(iii) protective services;
(iv) foster care;
(v) services for families in whose homes English is not the language customarily spoken;
(vi) services for children with disabilities; and
(vii) services for homeless children
(D) the extent to which the family needs assessment and communitywide strategic planning and needs assessment of the applicant reflect a need to provide full-working-day or full-calendar- year services and the extent to which, and manner in which, the applicant demonstrates the ability to collaborate and participate with the State and local community providers of child care or preschool services to provide full-working-day full calendar year services.
(E) the number of eligible children, as described in clause (i) or (ii) of section 645(a)(1)(B), in each community who are not participating in a Head Start program or any other publicly funded early childhood education and development program;
(F) the concentration of low-income families in each community;
(G) the extent to which the applicant proposes to foster partnerships with other service providers in a manner that will leverage the existing delivery systems of such services and enhance the resource capacity of the applicant; and
(H) the extent to which the applicant, in providing services, successfully coordinated activities with the local educational agency serving the community involved (including the local educational agency liaison designated under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii))), and with schools in which children participating in such applicant’s program will enroll following such program, with respect to such services and the education services provided by such local educational agency.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in using funds made available for expansion under subsection (a)(4)(D), the Secretary shall first allocate the funds to qualified applicants proposing to use such funds to serve children from families with incomes below the poverty line. Agencies that receive such funds are subject to the eligibility and enrollment requirements under section 645(a)(1).
(3)(A) In the event that the amount appropriated to carry out the program under this subchapter for a fiscal year does not exceed the amount appropriated for the prior fiscal year, or is not sufficient to maintain services comparable to the services provided under this subchapter during the prior fiscal year, a Head Start agency may negotiate with the Secretary a reduced funded enrollment level without a reduction in the amount of the grant received by the agency under this subchapter, if such agency can reasonably demonstrate that such reduced funded enrollment level is necessary to maintain the quality of services.
(B) In accordance with this paragraph, the Secretary shall set up a process for Head Start agencies to negotiate the reduced funded enrollment levels referred to in subparagraph (A) for the fiscal year involved.
(C) In the event described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall be required to notify Head Start agencies of their ability to negotiate the reduced funded enrollment levels if such an agency can reasonably demonstrate that such reduced funded enrollment level is necessary to maintain the quality of services.
(h) Financial assistance provided under this subchapter may be used by each Head Start program to provide full-working-day Head Start services to any eligible child throughout the full-calendar-year.
(i) The Secretary shall issue regulations establishing requirements for the safety features, and the safe operation, of vehicles used by Head Start agencies to transport children participating in Head Start programs. The regulations shall also establish requirements to ensure the appropriate supervision of, and appropriate background checks for, individuals with whom the agencies contract to transport those children.
(j) Any agency that receives financial assistance under this subchapter to improve the compensation of staff who provide services under this subchapter shall use the financial assistance to improve the compensation of such staff, regardless of whether the agency has the ability to improve the compensation of staff employed by the agency who do not provide Head Start services.
(k)(1) The Secretary shall allow center-based Head Start programs the flexibility to satisfy the total number of hours of service required by the regulations in effect on the date of enactment of the Human Services Amendments of 1994, to be provided to children in Head Start programs so long as such agencies do not--
(A) provide less than 3 hours of service per day;
(B) reduce the number of days of service per week; or
(C) reduce the number of days of service per year.
(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to restrict the authority of the Secretary to fund alternative program variations authorized under section 1306.35 of title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations in effect on the date of enactment of the Human Services Amendments of 1994.
(l)(1) With funds made available under this subchapter to expand migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, the Secretary shall give priority to migrant and seasonal Head Start programs that serve eligible children of migrant or seasonal farmworker families whose work requires them to relocate most frequently.
(2) In determining the need and demand for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs (and services provided through such programs), the Secretary shall consult with appropriate entities, including providers of services for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs. The Secretary shall, after taking into consideration the need and demand for migrant and seasonal Head Start programs (and such services), ensure that there is an adequate level of such services for eligible children of migrant farmworker families before approving an increase in the allocation of funds provided under this subchapter for unserved eligible children of seasonal farmworker families. In serving the eligible children of seasonal farmworker families, the Secretary shall ensure that services provided by migrant and seasonal Head Start programs do not duplicate or overlap with other Head Start services available to eligible children of such farmworker families.
(3) In carrying out this subchapter, the Secretary shall continue the administrative arrangement at the national level for meeting the needs of Indian children and children of migrant and seasonal farmworker families and shall ensure—
(A) the provision of training and technical assistance by staff with knowledge of and experience in working with such populations; and
(B) the appointment of a national Indian Head Start collaboration director and a national migrant and seasonal Head Start collaboration director.
(4)(A) For the purposes of paragraph (3), the Secretary shall conduct an annual consultation in each affected Head Start region, with tribal governments operating Head Start including Early Head Start programs.
(B) The consultations shall be for the purpose of better meeting the needs of Indian, including Alaska Native, children and their families, in accordance with this subchapter, taking into consideration funding allocations, distribution formulas, and other issues affecting the delivery of Head Start services in their geographic locations.
(C) The Secretary shall publish a notification of the consultations in the Federal Register before conducting the consultations.
(D) The Secretary shall ensure that a detailed report of each consultation shall be prepared and made available, within 90 days after the consultation, to all tribal governments receiving funds under this subchapter.
(m) The Secretary shall issue rules to establish policies and procedures to remove barriers to the enrollment and participation of homeless children in Head Start programs. Such rules shall require Head Start agencies—
(1) to implement policies and procedures to ensure that homeless children are identified and prioritized for enrollment;
(2) to allow families of homeless children to apply to, enroll in, and attend Head Start programs while required documents, such as proof of residency, immunization and other medical records, birth certificates, and other documents, are obtained within a reasonable time frame; and
(3) to coordinate individual Head Start programs with efforts to implement subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.)
(n) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to require a State to establish a publicly funded program of early childhood education and development, or to require any child to participate in such a publicly funded program, including a State-funded preschool program, or to participate in any initial screening before participating in a publicly funded program of early childhood education and development, except as provided under sections 612(a)(3) and 635(a)(5) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(3), 1435(a)(5)).
(o) All curricula funded under this subchapter shall be based on scientifically valid research, and be age and developmentally appropriate. The curricula shall reflect all areas of child development and learning and be aligned with the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework. Parents shall have the opportunity to examine any such curricula or instructional materials funded under this subchapter.