Head Start, established in the 1960s to help fight poverty, has long been considered by experts to be a gold standard early learning program. Its regulations, which stretch more than 100 pages, outline requirements on everything from child-to-teacher ratios and child health screenings to family engagement.<\/p>\n
The Republican administration would replace those regulations with around a dozen pages of rules, leaving most of the specifics up to state and local law, said the people familiar with the deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not yet public and because they feared reprisal.<\/p>\n
The draft rules would require more documentation from parents who are homeless or unemployed, the people familiar with the deliberations told The Associated Press. An early version of the proposal also would have barred parents who are in the United States illegally from enrolling their children, even if the children are U.S. citizens. It\u2019s unclear whether those provisions will make the final draft.<\/p>\n
Head Start\u2019s rules target poverty, experts say<\/p>\n
Head Start serves more than half a million low-income babies, toddlers and preschoolers nationwide. For families that qualify, it offers free preschool and screenings to identify developmental delays. It also offers supports for families.<\/p>\n
The changes to Head Start would deliver a win for conservatives who have sought wholesale elimination of it<\/a>. The Trump administration would also further its efforts to eliminate regulations it views as onerous or unnecessary.<\/p>\n If the changes take effect, they could make Head Start unrecognizable, said Khari Garvin, who ran the Office of Head Start under President Joe Biden, a Democrat.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d have the carcass of Head Start,\u201d Garvin said. \u201cYou might have a program that\u2019s called Head Start, but in substance it will not be.\u201d<\/p>\n Proposal has a long way to go to take effect<\/p>\n The proposed rules were originally reported in The Bulwark. The White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, did not respond to questions about the changes.<\/p>\n Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, said the organization has yet to see the proposed rules. But he said the potential for a massive overhaul has left the organization on edge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very anxious,\u201d Sheridan said. \u201cWhen it does come out \u2026 we\u2019ll be ready to fight back where we need to fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, he emphasized that Head Start centers might not be impacted for months, if the rules get on the books at all. Once the proposal is made public, federal law requires the administration to give at least a month for the public to weigh in on it. Then, once finalized, it may take more time for the rules to take effect. There\u2019s also the potential for a lawsuit to halt implementation.<\/p>\n Current rules cover dental screenings and staff-to-student ratios<\/p>\n Head Start was created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson\u2019s War on Poverty and targets the myriad challenges that low-income households face. It serves children and adults alike, coaching parents on reaching their goals, connecting them with services and even employing them.<\/p>\n Head Start operators, which include school districts and nonprofit organizations, are required to provide medical, dental and vision screenings for children and to monitor them for developmental delays. There\u2019s also a curriculum framework and prohibitions on physical and emotional abuse of children.<\/p>\n Many of the features that make Head Start distinct from mainstream preschools are spelled out in 122 pages of performance standards. The Trump administration\u2019s proposal would toss most of that rule book and replace it with a much shorter version that eliminates or loosens many requirements, the people familiar with the proposal said. But the proposal also calls for some new regulations, such as requiring all instruction in English.<\/p>\n Requirements around staff-to-student ratios and safety standards would be erased. Operators instead would be instructed to follow local and state laws, which are often far more permissive. And the new proposal also says nothing about suspensions and expulsions, the people said, making it easier for programs to kick out kids with disabilities<\/a> who are difficult to educate.<\/p>\n Head Start, which has enjoyed robust bipartisan support for decades, has faced several threats since Trump took office last year<\/a>. Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint<\/a> authored by the official who is now Trump\u2019s budget chief, called for the federal government to get rid of the program altogether. Last year, in a draft budget, the administration proposed exactly that, saying: \u201cThe federal government should not be in the business of mandating curriculum, locations, and performance standards for any form of education.\u201d After public outcry, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>, whose department oversees Head Start, told Congress the program\u2019s funding was safe.<\/p>\n Funding for the program was disrupted not long after Trump took office, leading some programs to have to shutter temporarily. It was once again halted after a government shutdown<\/a> in October that led some centers briefly to close their doors.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Trump officials also erased a Biden-era rule that mandated raises and greater benefits for Head Start employees. When the rule went in to effect in 2024, Head Start teachers<\/a>, the majority of whom have bachelor\u2019s degrees, earned less than $40,000 a year on average.<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed reporting.<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list<\/a> of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MORIAH BALINGIT, AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is planning a dramatic overhaul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[15,23682,74,76,75,8421,168675],"class_list":["post-422703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-education","tag-head-start","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-trump-education","tag-why-republicans-are-gutting-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Health](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Trump_99_72.jpg\")
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a cabinet meeting, Friday, July 31, 2026, at Camp David, the presidential retreat, near Thurmont, Md., Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin)
\nHead Start is under threat<\/p>\n