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Pasco Head Start staff brief board on shared governance, eligibility rules and selection priorities
Summary
Early Childhood Programs staff reviewed Head Start shared governance, eligibility and selection procedures with the board, describing program types, performance standards, documentation requirements and selection priorities for low-income and categorically eligible families.
Vicky Wolland, an Early Childhood Programs staff member, and Dr. Elizabeth DeCamilla briefed the Pasco County School Board on Head Start shared governance and eligibility training required for the district’s role as the grantee.
Wolland said the Office of Head Start framework includes three intersecting governance bodies for grantees: the governing body (the school board), a policy council composed primarily of current parents (at least 51 percent), and the Department of Early Childhood Programs. She said areas requiring joint oversight by the board and the policy council include hiring and termination of the Head Start director and other lead staff and establishing impasse procedures.
Dr. Elizabeth DeCamilla discussed program types and selection procedures. She said Early Head Start home-based services serve expectant families through age 3, that the district is allotted 56 home-based slots and must provide a minimum of 46 home visits and 22 socializations per year, and that the program runs on a full-year schedule from August through July. She said Early Head Start center-based toddler programs operate in four schools (Fox Hollow, Hudson Primary, Ronnie Beacox and Woodland), with a 12-to-3 child-to-classroom continuum, an 8-to-2 caregiver-to-toddler ratio, and a minimum of 1,380 program hours.
DeCamilla described Head Start preschool as the 3–5 age program offered in 20 elementary schools, requiring at least an eight-month program and a minimum of 1,200 hours aligned to the district’s school calendar. She said staff must train the governing body within the district’s first 180 days on eligibility procedures.
On eligibility and selection, DeCamilla explained categorical eligibility (homelessness, foster care or receipt of SNAP, SSI, caregiver allowance or guardianship assistance) and income eligibility tiers. She said families at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty guidelines qualify; families at 101–130 percent of poverty may be enrolled but may not exceed 35 percent of enrollments in that category. She noted a recent performance-standard change that directs staff to consider housing-cost burden (if housing exceeds 30 percent of net income) when assigning selection points for families in the 101–130 percent band.
DeCamilla described procedural requirements: an in-person or documented remote interview is preferred, verification of age and income using tax forms or pay stubs for the relevant time period, retention of an eligibility determination record (EDR) for five years, and submission of the Program Information Report (PIR) to federal authorities (reported annually, due in August). She said the policy council approved the program’s eligibility and selection materials the prior month.
DeCamilla said staff have ethical safeguards and procedures to detect and prevent misreporting of income; she said Pasco has not experienced such cases during her tenure. The presentation closed with board members thanking staff; no board action was taken at the workshop.
