Montgomery County Maryland Operating Budget

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Program Description

Head Start

This program oversees the Federal Head Start funding that the County receives to provide a comprehensive child development program for income-eligible families with young children ages three through five. Montgomery County Public Schools serves as the Head Start delegate agency and the Department of Health and Human Services provides health services to eligible Head Start children through the School Health Service program.

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Administration and Support

Program Contacts

Contact Mark Hodge of the HHS - Administration and Support at 240.777.1568 or Deborah Lambert of the Office of Management and Budget at 240.777.2794 for more information regarding this department's operating budget.

Program Performance Measures

Program Performance Measures	Actual FY22	Actual FY23	Estimated FY24	Target FY25	Target FY26
Number of children in full-day program ¹	540	540	540	540	648
Percent of children in full-day program ²	83%	83%	83%	83%	100%
Percent of Head Start eligible children served by the Montgomery County Head Start Program ³	41%	41%	41%	41%	41%
Percent of 3-year olds with demonstrated school readiness ⁴	75%	83%	87%	87%	87%
Percent of 4-year olds with demonstrated school readiness ⁵	84%	83%	87%	87%	87%

¹  The federal 5-year program goals were established in FY21 to serve 648 children. Of these 648, 540 are full-time, and the program expects to continue at full capacity. The program hopes that in FY26, when the new project period starts, all 648 slots will be funded for full-time participation.
²  The current Head Start 5-year project period ends in FY25 and funds full day for 540 of the 648 participating children. In the next five-year project period in FY26, program anticipates receiving funds to enroll all 648 slots full time.
³  Program estimates 1,580 applications are received per year. The number served by the program has consistently remained at 648, per the approved project period funding from FY21 through FY25.
⁴  Head Start children returned to uninterrupted in-person learning. Consistency in curriculum instruction may have impacted the increase in readiness for kindergarten.
⁵  MCPS instituted a new curriculum to promote more rigerous instruction and learning for the Pre-K program that may have resulted in the slight decrease in school readiness assessment of children.

Program Budget Changes

FY25 Approved Changes	Expenditures	FTEs
FY24 Approved	4896061	2.80
Multi-program adjustments, including negotiated compensation changes, employee benefit changes, changes due to staff turnover, reorganizations, and other budget changes affecting multiple programs.	-141299	0.00
FY25 Approved	4754762	2.80