Schools Suffer From Neglect

Hodgkinson reminds us that it “took more than 10 years” for the federal Head Start program “to demonstrate its cost-effectiveness.” California’s Child Development Centers have been providing children from low-income families with a “head start” for more than 30 years. This year, many of these centers may be forced to close because Gov. George Deukmejian’s budget fails to provide them with a cost of living allowance.

Do we need to wait 10 years to realize the effects these closures will have had on a generation of our children? As Hodgkinson and others have pointed out, this connection between a “head start” experience and later school success is not only cost-effective but is “education-effective.”

ALAN GUTTMAN

Lawndale