Message to the Congress Transmitting Report Relating to the Head Start Program.

To the Congress of the United States:

Section 309 of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 directed the President to make a special study of whether responsibility for administering the Head Start program should be left with the Office of Economic Opportunity, or whether it should be delegated or transferred to another agency. Congress asked that a report of this study be submitted by March 1, 1969.

I am submitting the report herewith. This report has been prepared in consultation with the heads of the Executive departments and agencies concerned.

The study concludes that Head Start should be delegated to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It leaves for later determination the question of whether the program should eventually be transferred. As I have indicated in a message to Congress today, I will present a set of recommendations before the end of the current fiscal year on a permanent status and organizational structure for the Office of Economic Opportunity. At that time, I will make a recommendation on whether Head Start should be transferred, or whether it should remain a delegated program.

Section 308 of the same Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 directed the Commissioner of Education to make a special study of the means by which the existing Job Corps facilities and programs might, if determined feasible, be transferred to State or joint Federal-State operation. The Commissioner was directed to report his findings to Congress by March 1, 1969.

As my message today indicated, responsibility for administering the Job Corps will be delegated to the Department of Labor effective July 1. The question of State or joint Federal-State operation is a complex one which may well be affected by the over-all manpower-development proposals now being prepared by the Secretary of Labor. In light of these developments, and in order to comply with the intent of Congress, I have asked the Secretaries of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare, along with the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Manpower, and the Director of OEO, to work with the Acting Commissioner of Education in preparing a report responsive to the Congressional directive to be submitted at the earliest possible time. As directed by Congress, the Acting Commissioner will also consult with other Federal officials, with State officials and with concerned individuals.

In its request for these studies, I recognize the interest of Congress in a constant evaluation and review of the way in which new, experimental programs are being administered, and in the measurement of their results. I welcome that interest, I share it, and I will attempt to be responsive to it.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

February 19, 1969