Democrats are urging Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop the Trump administration’s proposed changes to Head Start, calling the reforms to the early childcare and education program illegal and “antithetical” to the mission of Head Start.
Head Start, the largest federal childcare program, aims to ensure that more than 700,000 kids receive a high-quality pre-school education for students ages 3-5 and improve welfare outcomes for children and their families. The reforms transfer federal oversight to state programs.
In a letter led by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, a bicameral coalition of lawmakers accuse the federal health department of proposing to “gut” the program by rolling back 90% of its performance standards and it asks Kennedy to withdraw the changes outlined in the agency’s recent announcement.
But the new administrative changes could diminish program quality, reduce disciplinary standards, eliminate jobs for educators and healthcare providers and weaken protections for students with disabilities and unhoused families, according to the letter that was first obtained by ABC News.
“This proposed rule is a brazen attempt to dismantle Head Start without regard for the hundreds of thousands of young children and working-class families who depend on these programs and services every year,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Kennedy’s office on Wednesday.
In addition to Sanders, who serves as the ranking member on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Education Committee ranking member Bobby Scott and more than 150 other Democrats signed onto the letter.
The lawmakers allege that the proposed changes violate the Head Start Act — the law that authorizes the eligibility and standards for the program — and illegally eliminate the program’s core components of giving vulnerable students and families a boost in life. For more than 60 years, the program has provided early childhood education, health, nutrition and family support services to low-income children and families.
Head Start has undergone major revisions under previous administrations, including the largest reduction in funded Head Start slots in program history.
Since FY16, Head Start enrollment has declined from over 1 million children to 771,121 in FY25, according to government data. The National Head Start Association supports the government’s intent to reduce unnecessary burden on Head Start programs and educators but the organization said the proposed rule exceeds its deregulatory approach.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services contended that any Head Start program that likes its current performance standards under the federal government’s previous guidance is welcome to maintain those standards.
“Head Start teachers and staff are exceptional professionals who have in many cases dedicated their lives to serving children and families,” the spokesperson wrote. “It is a shame that some elected leaders in Washington do not trust Head Start directors, teachers, and parents to make wise decisions for the children they serve but instead believe Washington must tell all 1,600 Head Start centers across the U.S. exactly how they have to run their programs.”
Early childhood advocates stress that new regulations requiring English-only instruction, caps on administrative spending, and shifts in health screenings could also harm future Head Start participants.
Wednesday’s letter comes as the 60-day open comment period for the changes ends. Kennedy’s uncle, Sargent Shriver, founded the program in 1965. The secretary has said that the reforms will remove unnecessary bureaucracy for hundreds of thousands of American families to renew the “promise of Head Start for the next generation” by allowing local Head Start centers more authority over their programs.
In their letter, the lawmakers scolded the proposal saying Kennedy “made a commitment to Congress to ‘preserve’ Head Start,” during his confirmation hearings — “yet this proposed rule is the latest attempt by the Administration to deteriorate and ultimately eliminate the program by gutting the core standards and services that have long-defined and ensured its success.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s goal to make the largest revision to federal childcare policy in decades aligns with current administration priorities. If implemented, the new regulations would empower parents, implement the new federal dietary guidelines and physical activity standards, shift early childhood governing authority to the states, and eliminate duplicative layers of compliance, according to the health department. The department also awarded over $200 million to Head Start for nutrition, facilities, and other services last month.
For now, as federal funding remains intact and programs are still operating, Head Start proponents told ABC News that fewer federal regulations should not mean fewer results for its families.
Bernadine Futrell, who served as the Biden administration’s Head Start director, told ABC News that the program is life saving and provides critical services.
“It’s more than early learning,” Futrell told ABC News, adding “It is an early childhood program. It’s focusing on brain development, health and nutrition, healthy habits, financial literacy, economic mobility for parents, and it’s a two-generational approach – where it’s not just a child being served; it’s the entire family that is moving to another level.”
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