On March 18, 2011 the Office of Head Start issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) related to Head Start eligibility regulations. The proposed rule would amend regulations to codify eligibility requirements for Head Start & Early Head Start program enrollment. The proposed rule aims to strengthen the procedures to determine, verify, certify, and maintain program eligibility records used for enrollment. It is intended to reduce the risk that children or pregnant women who are ineligible for participation in Head Start or Early Head Start are enrolled in the programs.
Additionally, the rule proposes to create the following new requirements:
- The person seeking services would be required to certify (in a signed and dated document) that the documents and information provided by that person related to eligibility are, to the best of his or her knowledge, accurate.
- Program staff who make an eligibility determination would be required to certify (in a signed and dated statement) both that the eligibility-related information on file is, to the best of that person’s knowledge, accurate and that based on the information provided the staff member determined the pregnant woman or child is eligible for services.
- Agencies would be required to establish policies and procedures describing the action that will be taken against a staff person who violated eligibility determination requirements.
- Agencies would also be required to provide training related to eligibility requirements and the legal consequences of committing fraud.
To be considered, comments responding to the NPRM must be received by the Office of Head Start on or before April 18, 2011. Comments can be submitted electronically through the Submit a Comment for ACF RDOC 0001-0037 page at regulations.gov or addressed to Colleen Rathgeb, Office of Head Start, 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20024, Attention: Colleen Rathgeb, Office of Head Start. When submitting a comment include your name and address, the identifying docket number for this rulemaking (ACF 2011-6326), indicated the specific section of the document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each comment.
