National Head Start Spending

In 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services (federal welfare) spent $9,213,000,000 on the National Head Start program.  This spending was independent from state-funded programs and full-day kindergarten programs. 

In 2008 there were 796,740 children enrolled in nationally funded head start programs in America. 

That works out to $11,563 per child per year. 

If Head Start runs 180 days per year, like public school, then we are spending $64 per child per day.  If a family has 2 children in the program, that is $128 per day, or $540 per week, or $23,127 per year. 

Why not just send the family a check that would cover the rent on a very nice 3 bedroom apartment in the amount of $1,927 per month? 

Heck, if the family moved into a more modest home that amount would cover rent and groceries!  A single parent would be able to work a part time job and provide plenty for their family.  A two-parent household could easily afford to have Mom home and Dad could work a job that allowed him to be home more hours, too.  Or the parent(s) could devote some time and energy to education or vocational training that would allow them to become more independent and to enjoy the sense of self-worth and well-being that comes with providing for a family.

Let's dismantle the Head Start program and send each child currently enrolled in the program a check for $11,563 per year for the next 4 years.  Make it a one-time grant to the child in the interest of getting their parents trained, educated and productive. 

Ah, but then the State would not have so much access to young minds and so much control over families as it now has.  The the State would lose its hold on the future of its citizens.  Then the State would see its power slip from its hands, back into the hands of those who rightfully hold it:  The People.

And I see the flaw in my premise.  My premise assumes that government can legitimately take money from those who have and redistribute it to those who have less.  That right does not exist in Nature.  Government can only do that which the people delegate to it.  And the people can delegate to government only rights which they hold.  No person has the right to take from one the fruits of his labor and give those fruits to another simply on the basis that the latter has less than the former.  Therefore it is not in the legitimate scope of government to do the same. 

Nevertheless, it is interesting to imagine all of the government spending in "our interest" really being spent in our interest, isn't it?

http://www.hhs.gov/asrt/ob/docbudget/2011budgetinbrief.pdf
http://www.naccrra.org/randd/head-start/participation