Pittsburgh parent Lauren Stuparitz credits the federal Head Start program with transforming her neurodivergent son\u2019s life. Now, as the Trump administration proposes sweeping regulatory changes to the initiative, Stuparitz and other families worry about its future.<\/p>\n
Now 6 years old, her son speaks in complete sentences, reads independently, communicates his needs and confidently raises his hand in class. He started first grade Monday at Pittsburgh Public Schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Head Start program in Pittsburgh was really a lifesaver for my family,\u201d said Stuparitz of Westwood. \u201cI probably sound very calm now because I have a little distance from the situation, but it\u2019s very stressful worrying about your child\u2019s health and future.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Stuparitz digests the proposed federal adjustments, she worries new guidelines will weaken the program\u2019s ability to support families.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had so many positive experiences with Head Start,\u201d she said, \u201cthat I don\u2019t understand why anybody would want to mess with something that\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n
History, proposed future<\/p>\n
Established in the 1960s as a gold standard early learning initiative offered by roughly 1,600 agencies nationwide, Head Start serves children ages 3 to 5 from families at or below the poverty level. For a family of four in the contiguous United States, this means an income of $33,000 or less.<\/p>\n
The Early Head Start branch supports infants, toddlers and pregnant women.<\/p>\n
Overall, the federal enterprise benefits about 700,000 low-income children, including homeless, special education and foster care youth, according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Now, however, the Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a series of extensive changes to the 100-page regulations document governing these early education services.<\/p>\n
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the proposal as \u201cremoving unnecessary bureaucracy, strengthening nutrition and physical health, trusting parents and local communities and opening Head Start to hundreds of thousands of more children.\u201d<\/p>\n
The measures, he said, would add 236,000 more children to the program and reduce federal spending by $2.2 billion.<\/p>\n
But Head Start advocates are expressing concerns about the adjustments, saying they would \u201cchange things dramatically\u201d for the programs, said Kara McFalls, executive director of the Pennsylvania Head Start Association.<\/p>\n
\u201dHead Start is a powerful program,\u201d she said. \u201cIt changes lives, and we will support our programs and Head Start to continue to be recognized as a national program with quality standards that are replicable in every state and in every service community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not support changes to the standards in this way, and we stand by the rigorous quality that Head Start offers to families.\u201d<\/p>\n
The changes would eliminate about 1,400 Head Start regulations, leaving guidance of the program in those areas \u2014 including staff-to-student ratios, health and developmental screenings and parental input \u2014 up to state law.<\/p>\n
That worries Susan Buffton, director of early childhood education programs for the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, Head Start programs should all look pretty much the same in terms of the services they provide and the quality of those services,\u201d she said. \u201cThat wouldn\u2019t necessarily be the case (under the proposed changes).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have a program that\u2019s operating at the bare minimum standards while another program is trying to maintain the highest standard, so you\u2019re going to lose any sense of uniformity in the program as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposal would limit the amount of federal funding Head Start providers can spend on administrative expenses \u2014 capping costs at 5% instead of the current 15%. Homeless families would be required to submit additional documentation to prove their housing status, and agencies would be allowed to expel or suspend children from the program.<\/p>\n
It would eliminate teacher credential requirements and require Head Start providers to obtain a license with the state.<\/p>\n
It also would bolster nutrition education and exercise requirements \u2014 30 minutes of physical activity for every 3\u00bd hours students are in a Head Start classroom.<\/p>\n
The proposed adjustments are open for public comment until they take effect Oct. 6, but potential lawsuits could halt implementation, according to AP. Visit regulations.gov for guidelines on how to submit feedback.<\/p>\n
State standards<\/p>\n
Six agencies offer Head Start in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, benefiting more than 30,000 pregnant women, infants, toddlers and preschoolers, McFalls said. The state Head Start association supports the 63 intermediate units, community action programs and agencies that operate Head Start and Early Head Start statewide.<\/p>\n
Kim Russo Joseph, director of the Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Program, is confident the state\u2019s Head Start classrooms would maintain a high-quality education even if the federal proposal goes into effect.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s early childhood education guidelines \u2014 set for programs such as Head Start Supplemental Assistance and Pre-K Counts \u2014 align with the current Head Start standards, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that we are fortunate in the state of Pennsylvania that we have a supportive governor and we have an office of child development and early learning at the state level with folks that truly understand early childhood,\u201d she said. \u201cWe do have really good state standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
For example, federal guidelines set staff-student ratios at one adult for every 10 children \u2014 between ages 3 and 5 \u2014 in a Head Start classroom, McFalls said. For classrooms with more than 17 children, two teachers are required.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania law also sets a one-adult-to-10-children ratio for classrooms of students ages 3 and 4, McFalls said.<\/p>\n
But Russo Joseph suspects that other states are not as well-equipped.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been on multiple phone calls and webinars since this was released,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a lot of panic (in) some places where they don\u2019t have strong early childhood (regulations) across the state, where people really depend on that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there are some states that don\u2019t have other early childhood programs, that only have Head Start. This could be a really devastating blow for some states and some areas where families completely depend on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some states \u2014 including Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Texas and Tennessee \u2014 allow for larger classroom sizes than the current Head Start regulations, according to national bipartisan advocacy nonprofit First Five Years Fund.<\/p>\n
Florida, for example, sets staff-student ratios at one teacher for 15 students between ages 3 and 4 and one teacher for 20 students between ages 4 and 5.<\/p>\n
Some Pennsylvania programs have three teachers to manage 15 students \u201cbecause that is what that community needs,\u201d McFalls said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the administration says that of course programs can continue to do that, they have a goal to increase the number of children served in Head Start and cut money,\u201d she said. \u201cSo while a program may prefer to keep their ratios as they are, I don\u2019t see \u2014 nor do our programs see \u2014 how the funding will ensure the programs can do what they want to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeregulation does not come with more money or the same money, and that\u2019s a real concern for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parental involvement<\/p>\n
The Trump administration said the proposal will continue requiring programs to \u201cengage parents and families in their children\u2019s learning and development.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it would eliminate the requirement that programs have parent committees \u2014 groups made up entirely of parents and guardians with children enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start.<\/p>\n
Head Start providers would still be required to have a policy council, which serves a similar purpose. Only half of a policy council\u2019s members must be parents or guardians of Head Start students.<\/p>\n
Providers could choose to continue organizing parent committees. But Russo Joseph believes eliminating the requirement will make it difficult to find parents willing to give their time to a committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents might not be as involved in having a say in the curriculum and materials and activities and things that are happening in the classrooms and how we\u2019re using some of the grant funding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Adam Hobaugh, policy council chair for the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center, believes the removal of parent committees would hamper the council\u2019s ability to \u201ceffectively govern from a parental point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hobaugh is entering his fifth year serving on the policy council. His daughter, now in kindergarten, was enrolled in Head Start for about four years.<\/p>\n
The American Indian center has three Head Start locations, in Pittsburgh\u2019s Knoxville, Hazelwood and Dorseyville neighborhoods. Each location has its own parent committee, and representatives from each committee sit on the policy council, Hobaugh said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The policy council) might not be aware of everything that\u2019s going on, because we\u2019re not active parents in that system,\u201d Hobaugh said. \u201cThe parental involvement is crucial to knowing what\u2019s going on and to being able to address the concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Screening requirements<\/p>\n
Stuparitz, mother to a child who has experienced developmental delays, is concerned particularly about how the proposal would impact special education students \u2014 particularly by eliminating requirements for screenings that assess students\u2019 academic, social, emotional and physical health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is a huge safety net for kids and their families \u2014 to make sure that you can know the signs and act early \u2026 if the kids need extra support at that time in their development,\u201d she said. \u201cHelping the children with special needs when they\u2019re 3 or 4 or 5 years old in a Head Start program sets them up for success in elementary school.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cIt becomes a snowball effect if it\u2019s not addressed until later. The fact that they\u2019re not going to do that kind of healthcare coordinating just does not sound like good practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the proposal means<\/p>\n
The Head Start proposal would eliminate about 1,400 regulations, leaving guidance of the program in those areas up to state law. Some of the regulations slated for elimination include:<\/p>\n
\u2022 A staff-to-student ratio of one adult for every 10 students in a classroom of students ages 3 to 5<\/p>\n
\u2022 Required health and developmental screenings of students by providers<\/p>\n
\u2022 Required parent committees, where parents and guardians of students give input on the program\u2019s operation<\/p>\n
\u2022 Standards that prevent explusion or suspension of children from programs<\/p>\n
\u2022 Required credentials for teachers<\/p>\n
\u2022 Required lead exposure prevention methods<\/p>\n
The proposal also would:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Set a 5% cap on providers\u2019 administrative expenses \u2014 down from the current 15% limit<\/p>\n
\u2022 Require 30 minutes of physical activity for every 3\u00bd hours students are in a classroom<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mandate providers to give more nutrition education to families<\/p>\n
\u2022 Require that all instruction be delivered in English, except in tribal communities<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mandate homeless families to submit additional documentation to prove their housing status<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh parent Lauren Stuparitz credits the federal Head Start program with transforming her neurodivergent son\u2019s life. Now, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-273281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}