"The Congressional Budget Office estimated last year that the automatic cuts would slice $590 million from federal spending on Head Start, which will be more than $7.9 billion in 2012. The National Education Association said the cuts would eliminate 80,000 of the 962,000 slots for children and more than 30,000 jobs of teachers, aides and administrators in the program. It began in 1965 to provide summer school for children about to start kindergarten and later expanded to include year-round preschool classes.
"Concern about federal spending cuts is increasingly driving the debate in Washington and the action on Capitol Hill. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats narrowly pushed through legislation that would extend expiring Bush-era middle-class tax cuts for one year but allow tax cuts on incomes over $250,000 to lapse, arguing that the savings could be used to help undo the automatic cuts, known as sequestration." [Read more]
