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Head Start leaders ask legislature to stabilize funding in SB 5514; request $387.8 million allocation cited
Summary
Multiple Head Start directors and association leaders testified in support of Senate Bill 5514 and asked the committee to include $387,843,000 in the Department of Early Learning and Care budget to stabilize state funding for local Head Start and OPK programs.
Head Start program leaders and association officials urged the Joint Committee on Ways and Means - Subcommittee on Education on March 6 to preserve current service levels and stabilize state support for Head Start and OPK programs under Senate Bill 5514.
"As we celebrate 60 years of Head Start this year, we reflect on its profound impact," said Charlene Stroud, executive director of Head Start of Lane County and president of the Oregon Head Start Association. Stroud and several other Head Start directors asked the committee to fund $387,843,000 to maintain current service levels rather than treat the request as an expansion.
Witnesses from programs large and small described the services Head Start provides — school readiness, nutrition, health and mental‑health supports, parent education and family goal setting — and argued that state support is particularly important given federal funding uncertainty. Robert Kling, director of Eastern Oregon University Head Start, said the program's funding model is fragile and called the requested allocation a current service level adjustment rather than a new expansion.
Multiple rural and regional Head Start leaders echoed the request. Sue Ellen Whitlock, senior director of Head Start and early childhood services at Umatilla Morrow Head Start, urged support for the governor's current‑service level proposal and said Head Start helps families achieve higher education and stability. Lisa Nato, a former legislator and county commissioner testifying for early childhood investments, also urged prioritizing Head Start stabilization.
Speakers repeatedly framed the funding ask as preservation of existing services rather than a program expansion and said stable state funding would protect services if federal grants are reduced. The committee received these requests alongside other stakeholder testimony on ERDC, relief nurseries and early literacy investments.
