Recovery Act: Head Start Grantees Expand Services, but More Consistent Communication Could Improve Accountability and Decisions about Spending
Highlights
This report responds to two mandates for GAO under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). First, it is the latest report on the uses of and accountability for Recovery Act funds in selected states and localities. Second, it comments on recipients' reports of the jobs created and retained. The Recovery Act provided $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, primarily to expand services. GAO addressed four questions: (1) How have Head Start and Early Head Start grantees used Recovery Act funds, including for expanding enrollment? (2) What challenges have grantees encountered in spending Recovery Act funds? (3) How has the Office of Head Start (OHS) monitored the use of Recovery Act funds? (4) How has the quality of jobs data reported by Recovery Act recipients, particularly Head Start grantees, changed over time? In this report, GAO also updates the status of open recommendations from previous bimonthly and recipient reporting reviews. To address these questions, GAO interviewed grantees, analyzed federal agency and recipient reported data, and interviewed officials.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Head Start | To help ensure that grantees report consistent enrollment figures, the Director of the Office of Head Start should better communicate a consistent definition of "enrollment" to grantees for monthly and yearly reporting and begin verifying grantees' definition of "enrollment" during triennial reviews. |
In FY12, the Office of Head Start (OHS) issued informal guidance on its Web site clarifying monthly reporting requirements, but did not clarify yearly reporting requirements. In 2015, the agency published a final rule on Head Start Eligibility Determination that took effect March 12, 2015 (https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/02/10/2015-02491/head-start-program). OHS defined the term "enrolled" and revised the definition of "enrollment" to ensure that the requirements are clear to all grantees and consistent with information that grantees are required to report monthly and in the annual Program Information Report (PIR). In the PIR, a child or a pregnant woman is enrolled once they have attended class or received a service. The rule defines "enrolled" as a child who has been accepted and attended at least one class, has received at least one home visit, or has received at least one direct service while pending completion of necessary documentation for attendance in a center, based on state and local licensing requirements. For Early Head Start, enrollment includes all pregnant women that have been accepted and received at least one direct service. "Enrollment" is defined as the number of participants in an Early Head Start, a Head Start, a Migrant or Seasonal, or an American Indian Alaska Native Head Start program.
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| Office of Head Start | To provide grantees consistent information on how and when they will be expected to obligate and expend federal funds, the Director of the Office of Head Start should clearly communicate its policy to grantees for carrying over or extending the use of Recovery Act funds from one fiscal year into the next. |
HHS did not issue additional guidance to grantees before the period for obligating Recovery Act funds had expired.
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| Office of Head Start | To better consider known risks in scoping and staffing required reviews of Recovery Act grantees, the Director of the Office of Head Start should direct OHS regional offices to consistently perform and document Risk Management Meetings and incorporate known risks, including financial management risks, into the process for staffing and conducting reviews. |
After our recommendation was issued, HHS reported the Office of Head Start was reviewing the risk management process to ensure it was consistently performed and documented in its centralized data system and that it had taken related steps, such as requiring the grant officer to identify known or suspected risks prior to an on-site review. In 2012, HHS further reported that all Recovery Act Head Start and Early Head Start expansion programs had become permanent grantees and that reviews of permanent grantees now include an improved pre-review planning process to inform the scope and staffing of the on-site review. According to HHS, this process includes review of grantee information, including financial information, in collaboration with the regional office. Data sources HHS reports are reviewed include the program information report, issues tracking reports, fiscal data, enrollment trends, and past compliance information. For first year and triennial reviews, the fiscal information form is also reviewed to determine whether fiscal risks require a more thorough fiscal review.
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