Head Start Salary Pay Gets Renewed Scrutiny

WASHINGTON (AP) - Head Start directors get pay packages from $36,685 to $303,559, with at least 13 making more than the Cabinet official overseeing the program, new figures show.

The review of pay packages is part of a broader assessment, launched Thursday, to improve management at Head Start centers, which provide education and other services to more than 900,000 poor kids

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"The large majority of Head Start salaries are paid well within a range which most taxpayers would consider reasonable," said Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families.

"There do, however, seem to be some salaries which appear to be unusually high," he said. "What concerns me most is if someone is making $150,000 to $160,000 a year and is paying the teachers $8 to $9 an hour. There's something wrong with that."

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