Early Childhood Subcommittee

Wednesday, January 28, 2026·24m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Early Childhood Subcommittee advanced two bills: a Head Start study bill (HB211) requiring a data-driven report on Virginia's Head Start and Early Head Start services, reported 7–2 with substitute, and an interstate compact bill (HB255) to ease school psychologist licensure for out-of-state professionals, reported 9–1.

Key Actions

·HB 211 – Head Start and Early Head Start Study/ReportNo Vote

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Controversies

Scope of HB211 data collection — whether Early Head Start should be included

Delegate Guzman raised that the bill as written gathered information only for Head Start and not Early Head Start, requesting the patron consider also gathering data on Early Head Start. Tondawa Jeffries responded on the record that as the report is developed, Early Head Start will definitely be looked at along with Head Start preschool. No formal amendment was adopted to reflect this; it was an assurance given in testimony.

+ 1 more controversy

Notable Quotes

“This bill started out not being a study, and it had a big fiscal impact. So working with the Department of Education and some of the other advocates, we tried to work on it to get it to a more manageable form so that we could possibly get things started with this.”
Delegate Gardner — Delegate Gardner, patron of HB211, explaining why the bill was amended from its original form into a study and report focused on Head Start and Early Head Start services in Virginia.

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Votes

Move the substitute (HB211)No Vote

Motion to report substitute (HB211)Passed

Move to report (HB255)Passed

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TranscriptPreview

This bill started out not being a study, and it had a big fiscal impact. So working with the Department of Education and some of the other advocates, we tried to work on it to get it to a more manageable form so that we could possibly get things started with this. All right, we have a motion to. To move the substitute. All those in favor? All right. And now the substitute is before us. All right. Delegate Gardner. Yes. Would you like the clerk to. It's available. Do you want me to go ahead and talk about it? Yeah. Okay. All right, well, let me just start by saying Head Start and early Head Start services are a critical component of Virginia's unified Early childhood education system, providing high quality early learning and comprehensive services to children and families. However, since 2019, funded enrollment for Head Start preschool and early Head Start grantees has decreased by 3,500. At the same time, grant recipients are experiencing rising operational costs, workforce shortages, and challenges securing facilities. The commonwealth's goal is to protect access for working families while maximizing all federal dollars already allocated to local grant recipients. With these goals…

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