WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump’s administration is planning a dramatic overhaul of that would gut its quality standards, upending the hallmarks of the early education program for impoverished children, two people familiar with the deliberations said.
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.
Trump’s 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.
In a post on X, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, said to expect a rule to be published this week. The administration 鈥渞emains committed to strengthening Head Start by preserving federal investment in the program while advancing reforms that expand access, increase local flexibility, reduce unnecessary administrative burden, and ensure services are delivered effectively to children and families in need,” department spokesperson Emily Hilliard said Monday in an email.
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’s unclear whether those provisions will make the final draft.
Head Start, which operates in all 50 states, has long enjoyed robust bipartisan support. But some prominent conservatives in recent years have called for , saying the federal government should get out of the education business at every level. Deregulating the program would deliver a win for them and aligns with the Trump administration’s goals of scrapping rules it views as onerous or unnecessary.
Head Start is designed to target poverty, experts say
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.
If the changes take effect, they could make Head Start unrecognizable, said Khari Garvin, who ran the Office of Head Start under Democratic President Joe Biden.
鈥淲e鈥檇 have the carcass of Head Start,鈥� Garvin said. 鈥淵ou might have a program that鈥檚 called Head Start, but in substance it will not be.鈥�
The proposed rules were originally reported in The Bulwark.
Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, said the organization has yet to see the proposed rules.
鈥淲hen it does come out,鈥� Sheridan said, 鈥渨e鈥檒l be ready to fight back where we need to fight back.鈥�
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. If any new rules are finalized, there may be a delay before they take effect, and potential lawsuits could halt implementation.
Current rules cover dental screenings and staff-to-student ratios
Head Start was created as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson鈥檚 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.
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 are also curriculum frameworks and prohibitions on physical and emotional abuse of children.
Many of the features that make Head Start distinct from mainstream preschools are spelled out in 122 pages of performance standards. The Trump administration鈥檚 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. The proposal also calls for some new regulations, such as requiring all instruction in English.
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 more permissive. And the new proposal also says nothing about suspensions and expulsions, the people said, making it easier for programs to who are difficult to educate.
Jody Smith, a lead Head Start teacher south of Seattle, said she鈥檚 seen firsthand how critical many of the requirements are, especially the ones for engaging with families and screening kids for disabilities. Smith was a high school dropout when she enrolled her first child in Head Start, where she was encouraged to go back to school and inspired to become a teacher. Later, Head Start helped diagnose her youngest child with autism.
Without Head Start, 鈥淚 would have probably stayed as a poverty line,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 know that we would have gotten as far in life as we have.鈥�
Head Start has faced several threats
The numerous standards are key to preparing Head Start kids for kindergarten, said Ruth Friedman, who helped Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration draft the regulations now in jeopardy.
鈥淚f the administration strikes down those standards, it would set back our nation鈥檚 educational goals and our efforts to reduce poverty, and it is explicitly prohibited by the Head Start law itself,鈥� Friedman said.
Head Start, which has enjoyed robust bipartisan support for decades, has faced several threats since Trump . Project 2025, authored by the official who is now Trump’s 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: 鈥淭he federal government should not be in the business of mandating curriculum, locations, and performance standards for any form of education.鈥� After public outcry, Health Secretary , whose department oversees Head Start, told Congress the program’s funding was safe.
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 in October that led some centers briefly to close their doors.
Trump鈥檚 administration has chipped away at the program in other ways. The administration let go scores of federal workers who supported the program and closed half of its regional offices. It also began discouraging those seeking Head Start grants from using words in their applications, part of an effort to root out diversity, equity or inclusion programs. Officials also set out to from the program. Courts put both the anti-DEI and anti-immigration efforts on hold after lawsuits.
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, , the majority of whom have bachelor’s degrees, earned less than $40,000 a year on average.
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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed reporting.
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