HB 211

Head Start State Collaboration Office; plan for universal access to Head Start programs for eligible families. Declares it the goal of the Commonwealth to offer evidence-based Head Start and Early Head Start programs to each family in the Commonwealth that is eligible to enroll a child in such a program. The bill requires, in furtherance of such goal, the Head Start State Collaboration Office (HSCO) at the Department of Education, no later November 1, 2026, to develop and recommend to the General Assembly for formal endorsement and the provision of any required state funding a comprehensive plan, timeline, and set of incentives for achieving, no later the start of the 2032-2033 school year, universal access to Head Start and Early Head Start programs for each family in the Commonwealth that is eligible to enroll a child in such a program. The bill requires such plan to address, among such other considerations as HSCO deems appropriate, effective methods for expanding the capacity of existing programs; identifying, applying for, and successfully being awarded grants from federal and private sources; attracting and retaining skilled early childhood educators and administrators; and implementing pay-for-success or social impact bond models of outcomes-based program funding. The bill permits HSCO, in developing such plan, to collaborate with such stakeholders as it deems appropriate and consider models that have successfully been implemented in other states.