The National Head Start Association (NHSA), an organization representing parents, teachers and Head Start programs, filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Tommy Thompson on June 11th, seeking a court order that would prevent HHS from penalizing Head Start advocates that speak out against the administration’s proposed overhaul of the program. The suit also asks that a copy of the Court order be sent to all Head Start programs in order to correct the chilling impact May 8, 2003 HHS letter has had on the Head Start community’s voice in the debate over the program’s future. The suit is a response to a letter HHS sent to Head Start programs in May that contained inaccurate and confusing information about federal laws governing their right to lobby Congress, and threatened sanctions for programs that violate the law. (See theJune 4, 2003 Watcher story for details of events that lead up to filing the suit.) NHSA responded with a letter asking for clarification of the HHS position. When none came within two weeks, NHSA filed the suit. NHSA is being represented by Edward T. Waters, who said, “The legal problems with the Bush Administration letter are both obvious and severe. The letter exceeds the boundaries of any conceivably applicable statute or regulation…” The original letter from HHS warned against engaging in “political activities,” invoking the Hatch Act’s ban on campaigning for candidates on time paid for with government funds. However, the activity the HHS letter objected to was grassroots legislative lobbying communication, which has no reference to candidates or elections; hence, the Hatch Act does not apply. OMB Circular A-122 prohibits nonprofit federal grantees from spending grant money on legislative lobbying, but this prohibition does not extend to privately raised funds. HHS does not appear to be claiming that Head Start programs have used federal funds for lobbying. However, there is a dispute about whether matching funds can be spent free of this restriction. Generally, matching funds are considered to be “federal funds” and subject to the rules in Circular A-122. However, NHSA’s suit notes that the Head Start appropriations law only prohibits the use of “appropriated” funds for lobbying, and claims this frees matching dollars to be used for lobbying activities. The entire controversy is a result of the Bush administration’s proposals to turn over the Head Start program to the states. The impact on early childhood education could be profound, since the program has a wide reach, including 870,000 parent volunteers, 51,681 teachers, and serves over a million at-risk children. Head Start advocates have opposed the move because they fear it will result in lower standards and less commitment to health, nutrition and parent involvement. Last week the House Subcommittee on Education Reform voted to scale back the administration’s proposal by limiting state control in a pilot within eight states that have a record of financial commitment to the program. These states would be allowed to merge the state and federal funds. The committee also inserted controversial language that would allow faith-based organizations to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion. The bill now goes to the full Education and Workforce committee. The NHSA case, National Head Start Association v. Department of Health and Human Services was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of NHSA, its 1100 members and parents and staff. For more details see Save Head Start website, sponsored by NHSA.