The program, known as Head Start, provides early childhood education, nutritious meals, health screenings and other services to more than 23,000 children and their families across Georgia, according to the Georgia Head Start Association. The impact could be felt across Georgia’s 350 Head Start centers. The existing Head Start program, which is funded largely through federal tax dollars, maintains strict standards on metrics like student-to-teacher ratios, facility safety standards and disability access. “That’s how we renew the promise of Head Start for the next generation.” According to Bernhard, the program also plays an outsized role in rural parts of the state, where over a quarter of childcare slots are provided through the Head Start program.