Rahall Treats Students to Halloween Story

Statement

Praising Head Start as "one of America's key educational tricks to ensuring success later in life," U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) treated Head Start students at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College to a reading of Inside the House that is Haunted.

"What is scarier than knocking on the door of a haunted house on Halloween night?" asked Rahall. "Standing in the Halls of Congress and watching the federal budget slashers hack away at Head Start and other programs important to our kids."

According to the National Head Start Association, over the course of their lives, Head Start children are less likely to need special educations or engage in unhealthy behaviors and are more likely to achieve success in school and life.

Rahall read to the Wyoming County pre-k students as part of a national effort to raise awareness about the importance of Head Start school readiness programs.

According to the most recent statistics, in the year 2013, West Virginia had enrolled 8,320 students in Head Start and another 1,167 in Early Head Start. Access to Head Start for hundreds of those students is in jeopardy due to proposed budget cuts in the Congress.

"Continuing, deep federal budget cuts threaten our children's access to Head Start and that ought to send shivers down our spine. There is no better investment in a brighter future for West Virginia than ensuring that our kids have access to quality education and the earlier in their lives the better," said Rahall.

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