Title
Head Start Birth to Five Monthly Report - August - Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8
Description
This report provides the Community Services and Education Subcommittee, which serves as the City of Phoenix Head Start Birth to Five Governing Board, with an updated summary of the Head Start Birth to Five Program's financial and programmatic status.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.
Report
Summary
The Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 requires each Head Start Grantee to share monthly information with the Governing Board and Policy Council on program planning, policies and operations. In compliance with the Act, the Head Start program provides a monthly report on the following areas:
- Fiscal expenditures.
- Enrollment reports.
- School attendance.
- Medical/dental exams.
- Program information summaries.
- Nutrition.
- Child Incident Reports.
- Program Instructions or Information Memorandums.
Fiscal Expenditures
Attachment A shows year-to-date expenditures for the Fiscal Year 2026-27. The report includes a breakdown of each Education Service Provider, Child Care Partnership, Policy Council and the administrative support budget.
Enrollment Reports
The Office of Head Start requires programs to report the total number of children enrolled on the last day of each month. At the end of August, the total program enrollment was 2,027 out of 2,209 available slots, for an overall 92 percent enrollment rate.
All the Preschool Education Service Providers resumed preschool sessions in August. At the end of August, the Preschool Education Service Providers had 1,786 slots filled out of 1,957, for a 91 percent enrollment rate. Two classrooms, one at Bernard Black Elementary under Booker T. Washington Child Development Center, Inc., and another at Village Meadows in the Deer Valley Unified School District, remain unopened pending licensing approval.
The Early Head Start (EHS) program, offering both home-based and center-based year-round services, closed the month with 241 of 252 slots filled, achieving 96 percent capacity. The program is gradually shifting all slots to a center-based format. The home-based component filled 24 of 28 available slots, corresponding to 86 percent. Meanwhile, the center-based component filled 217 of 224 slots, reaching 97 percent.
Full Enrollment Initiative
EHS continues to participate in the Full Enrollment Initiative because enrollment fell below 97 percent in October 2025. As of November 2025, EHS has met the minimum enrollment requirement of 97 percent. To remove the chronically under-enrolled designation, EHS needed to sustain an enrollment rate of at least 97 percent for six consecutive months, a milestone achieved in April. As of now, the program has not received official confirmation that the Early Head Start program is back in compliance. Staff inquired with the regional contact, who stated that the letter has not yet been issued. Typically, programs receive such notice within three to six months of reaching this goal.
School Attendance
The Office of Head Start sets an annual attendance target of 85 percent. Attachment B indicates the year-to-date average attendance through the end of August. Head Start Preschool was at 76 percent during August, and the Early Head Start Center-Based program was at 72 percent.
Classroom Closures
Head Start programs are required to notify the Office of Head Start of classroom closures within seven calendar days. In August, there were five classroom closures. The Greater Phoenix Urban League (GPUL) had four classroom closures and the Washington Elementary School District (WESD) had one. At GPUL, the classroom at the Cartwright Child Care Center, Room 28, was closed for one day, and the classroom at Glenn L. Downs School was closed for two days due to the air conditioning not working. Byron Barry, Room 10, and the Pendergast Early Learning Center, Room 3, were closed due to teacher absences. At WESD, the Sahuaro Elementary classroom was closed due to teacher absences.
Medical/Dental Exams
Head Start regulations require all children to receive annual medical and dental exams. The program began its new year in July. By the end of August, 1,614 medical and 1,401 dental exams had been completed, for a total of 3,015 exams, as shown in Attachment C. The numbers are higher this year than in past years because this year the Health Specialist coordinated Summer Health Events to ensure children received the required exams.
Program Information Summaries
Please see Attachment D.
Nutrition
Each program must design and carry out nutrition services that are culturally and developmentally appropriate and provide children with up to two-thirds of their daily nutritional requirements. Nutrition services must meet the nutritional needs and feeding requirements of each child, including children with identified food allergies, children with disabilities and children who have special diets due to religion and family preference. In addition, a program must serve meals and snacks that meet U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary patterns and are high in nutrients and low in fat, sugar and salt. Children in the Early Head Start Center-Based classrooms receive protein, fruits, vegetables and low-carbohydrate foods during breakfast and lunch, with milk or water. Snacks include protein and low carbohydrates with milk or water.
Child Incident Reports
The Head Start Program Performance Standards require programs to submit reports of any significant incidents affecting the health and safety of program participants within 7 days of the incident. This includes injuries requiring hospitalization, emergency room treatment or a doctor's visit. Additionally, significant incidents include inappropriate discipline, potential child abuse or maltreatment, lack of supervision or unauthorized release of a child. No Child Incident Reports were submitted to the Office of Head Start in August.
Department of Child Safety Reports
All Head Start and Early Head Start staff are required to report suspected child abuse and neglect to protect children and help children and families connect to services. In August, no reports were submitted to the Department of Child Safety.
Program Instructions or Information Memorandums
Periodically, the Office of Head Start needs to provide information or programmatic updates to all Head Start Grantees. This is done through Program Instructions (PIs) and Information Memorandums (IMs). PIs provide information or recommendations from the United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families to States, Tribes, grantees and others. This includes various child welfare issues that often lead to guidance or policy changes. IMs provide up-to-date information but do not establish requirements or supersede existing laws or official guidance. In August, no PIs were released. IM ACF-OHS-IM-26-01, titled "Enrollment Reductions," was issued by the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families on August 6, 2026. The primary purpose of the guidance document is to support timely and consistent decision-making regarding slots and program capacity while preserving the availability of Head Start services for children and families, see Attachment E.
Locations
Alhambra Elementary School District, 4510 N. 37th Avenue
Cartwright Elementary School District, 5220 W. Indian School Road
Deer Valley Unified School District, 20402 N. 15th Avenue
Fowler Elementary School District, 1617 S. 67th Avenue
Isaac School District, 3348 W. McDowell Road
Laveen Elementary School District, 5601 W. Dobbins Road
Murphy Elementary School District, 3140 W. Buckeye Road
Pendergast Elementary School District, 3802 N. 91st Avenue
Phoenix Elementary School District, 1817 N. 7th Street
Riverside Elementary School District, 1414 S. 51st Avenue
Roosevelt Elementary School District, 6000 S. 7th Street
Skyrise School of Black Canyon, 10653 N. 25th Avenue
Skyrise School of Laveen, 755 S. 51st Avenue
Washington Elementary School District, 4650 W. Sweetwater Avenue
Wilson Elementary School District, 3025 E. Fillmore Street
Council Districts: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Gina Montes and the Human Services Department.