{"id":181285,"date":"2026-08-07T14:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T14:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/181285\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T14:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T14:23:10","slug":"trump-administration-moves-forward-with-head-start-overhaul-proposing-to-eliminate-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/181285\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration moves forward with Head Start overhaul, proposing to eliminate regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s administration said Thursday it plans to overhaul\u00a0Head Start<\/a>, tossing out many of the regulations that are the hallmark of the early education program for the nation\u2019s neediest children.<\/p>\n

Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the federally funded preschool program, said the proposed changes would encourage more local decision-making. But the proposal has sparked alarm across the Head Start community, where advocates say it threatens the backbone of the antipoverty initiative.\u00a0Head Start centers<\/a>\u00a0serve around 700,000 of the nation\u2019s most vulnerable children, including those who are homeless, in foster care or disabled.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press previously reported on\u00a0the proposed rule<\/a>, which became public Thursday when it was posted online. Americans have 60 days to weigh in before it goes into effect, though it could face legal challenges that might delay implementation.<\/p>\n

Alex J. Adams, an assistant secretary at Health and Human Services, said the department is hoping to give Head Start centers flexibility to change the way they operate by eliminating most of the program\u2019s regulations, such as standards for low staff-to-student ratios.<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal mandates can certainly hinder local decision-making, drive up costs and limit the program\u2019s reach,\u201d Adams said on a call with reporters.<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy spoke reverently about\u00a0Head Start<\/a>, which was started by his uncle Sargent Shriver under President Lyndon B. Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a program that works for the most vulnerable of the poorest kids in our society, and it\u2019s really important we protect it,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

But the changes would undermine many of the things that make Head Start distinct from other early education programs, according to current and former Head Start leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis version of Head Start is a shell of the program,\u201d said Khari Garvin, who oversaw Head Start under Democratic President Joe Biden. \u201cThis is a deeply diluted version of the program, which, in my view, will cause child and community outcomes to wane.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes Head Start different<\/p>\n

Head Start is governed by more than 100 pages of regulations. They require centers to have low staff-to-student ratios, a research-backed curriculum and bevvy of wraparound services for kids in poverty, including medical and dental screenings.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration wants to toss out nearly all of that rule book, erasing some 1,400 regulations. Instead, Head Start\u2019s operators \u2014 which include nonprofits and school districts \u2014 would look to state and local childcare licensing requirements for guidance, including on matters of child safety and class sizes. The proposal also scraps detailed requirements on preventing lead exposure in Head Start facilities.<\/p>\n

Other aspects of the program would be scrapped entirely. Family engagement requirements, which mandated that staff meet with parents to help them set and achieve goals, would be erased. So would deadlines for providing health and developmental screenings. Gone, too, is a mandate that children brush their teeth at school.<\/p>\n

But parents say these comprehensive services are what made the difference in their lives \u2014 and the lives of their children. Lori Pittman, an advocate from Washington state, said her family was in crisis when she enrolled her son in Head Start, with a husband struggling with substance abuse. Head Start staff encouraged her to go back to school and eventually employed her. She credits the preschool with helping her family escape poverty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was given the opportunity, while my child was in Head Start, to learn about leadership, to go back to school,\u201d Pittman said. \u201cI know Head Start works.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal was cheered by conservatives, who believe Head Start should be shuttered because it should be states \u2014 not the federal government \u2014 overseeing preschools.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the goal here is to make it more efficient for taxpayers, then the type of regulatory changes they\u2019re thinking of here are good steps,\u201d said Jonathan Butcher of the Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n

While the proposed rules largely loosen requirements, Adams emphasized centers have the option to continue to operate as they had in the past. He estimates deregulation could save the program more than $2 billion, money that could be reinvested back in to the program to create more than 200,000 new slots. That savings would be driven in part by cutting staff, including teachers, and allowing class sizes to rise, the Trump administration says.<\/p>\n

But Head Start advocates are skeptical the changes could help grow the program. Head Start enrollment has been declining for a decade, in part because of rising costs that have outpaced federal funding, forcing programs to scale back the number of children they serve. Staff shortages have also contributed, and they aren\u2019t likely to improve if programs start asking teachers to supervise more students.<\/p>\n

Advocates also worry financial pressures will force programs to forgo aspects of the program that would become optional under the Trump administration rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re saying they\u2019re going to serve all these other kids,\u201d said Jenny Mauer, head of the Wisconsin Head Start Association. \u201cWhat are you going to lose to do that, to serve more children without more money?\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside the deregulation, the proposal would add some new requirements. Staffers would have to deliver all instruction in English, except in tribal communities that run immersion programs in native languages. There would be a 5% cap on administrative expenses, down from 15%. The proposal also includes a requirement for 30 minutes of physical activity \u2014 outside if the weather permits \u2014 for every three and a half hours of the program. New nutrition standards, championed by Kennedy, would require programs to provide more nutrition education for families, including warning them of \u201cthe negative health consequences of sugar-sweetened beverages and grain-based desserts.\u201d<\/p>\n

State rules are more lenient<\/p>\n

Overall, experts emphasize, state childcare licensing requirements are far more lax than Head Start\u2019s current regulations. State rules are largely focused on ensuring children are healthy and safe. They generally do not require centers to provide things like medical screenings, they don\u2019t specify ways to engage with parents, and they don\u2019t speak to what \u2014 if anything \u2014 should be taught in childcare settings.<\/p>\n

Shantel Meek, who heads the Children\u2019s Equity Project at Arizona State University, co-authored an analysis that compared state licensing requirements with Head Start standards and found massive gaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas licensing is, like, the bare minimum to keep kids safe, Head Start includes keeping kids safe but also ensuring that kids are developing, growing, learning well,\u201d Meek said. \u201cIt\u2019s a totally different purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critically, states allow adults to care for far more children than is allowed under Head Start standards. If the proposal goes through, about 80% of Head Start students would have worse staff-to-student ratios, Meek\u2019s analysis found. In Mississippi, for example, one Head Start teacher is only allowed to teach up to four 2-year-olds. State childcare regulations would permit up to a dozen 2-year-olds to be supervised by one adult.<\/p>\n

Head Start, which operates in all 50 states, has long had support from Democrats and Republicans. But it has faced repeated threats under the Trump administration. Not long after Trump, a Republican, took office again in early 2025, some Head Start programs had to briefly shutter because they had\u00a0problems accessing their federal money<\/a>. Later, a budget draft eliminated Head Start\u2019s funding, but it was restored after widespread backlash.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

All contents \u00a9 copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

\nPOSTED BY ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s administration said Thursday it plans to overhaul\u00a0Head Start, tossing out many of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[49651,12,1693,6001,113,74,672],"class_list":["post-181285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump","tag-community-information","tag-donald-trump","tag-new","tag-radio","tag-sports","tag-trump","tag-weather"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117054682555641198","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}