Head Start funding lags by nearly $1 billion this year, causing some
preschool closures
[April 17, 2025]
By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY
Head Start centers across the U.S. have received nearly $1 billion less
in federal money compared with this time last year — and a lag in
funding this week has caused some preschool classrooms for low-income
children to close.
The federal government has distributed $1.6 billion for Head Start from
Jan. 1 through Tuesday, compared with $2.55 billion issued during the
same period last year, according to the office of Sen. Patty Murray,
D-Wash., which has been analyzing a federal database. Murray said the
Trump administration had “slow-walked” funding appropriated by Congress.
Head Start, a child development program for more than half a million of
the nation’s neediest kids, is federally funded, but runs through
private and public schools.
The preschools are deeply reliant on the federal money they receive. On
Wednesday, a delay in funding closed Head Start classrooms serving more
than 400 children at Inspire Development Centers in Sunnyside,
Washington. More than 70 staff have been laid off, and the center's
leaders don't plan to reopen the classrooms until they receive federal
money, Inspire CEO Jorge Castillo said.
The lag in funding is the latest barrier Head Start preschools have
faced under the Trump administration. During the brief freeze on federal
grants after President Donald Trump took office, Head Start providers
were unable to access their accounts. Unable to make payroll that day,
several centers temporarily closed, cutting off free child care for
low-income families, for whom a day without work is often a day without
pay.
Then, this month, scores of federal Head Start employees were put on
leave as part of Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government. At
least five of the 12 regional offices for Head Start were closed as part
of layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to
the National Head Start Association.
Advocates had warned that the layoffs could slow funding to Head Start
providers, who are typically in touch with federal staff to receive
their annual grants to operate a preschool. The Inspire centers
typically receive annual notice of their funding amount in February,
Castillo said, with a finalized award by May 1. But this year, the
company has not heard from the Department of Health and Human Services.
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A spokesperson for the department did not respond to a request for
comment.
“If you eliminate the regional offices, you are going to slow down
grant processing and, sure enough, they did. What Sunnyside is
experiencing is not only predictable, it’s probable,” said Joel
Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head
Start. “The parents don’t have child care today. And those kids are
missing out on programming.”
Head Start was started six decades ago as part of President Lyndon
B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. While the early childhood program has
enjoyed bipartisan support since then, some Republicans have
emphasized its shortcomings and criticized efforts to increase
funding. And Project 2025, the policy blueprint created by the
conservative Heritage Foundation, called for eliminating Head Start
altogether.
“As he works to give more tax breaks to billionaires like himself,
Donald Trump is doing everything he can to destroy Head Start—
without a care in the world for the hundreds of thousands of working
families across the country who depend on it,” said Sen. Patty
Murray, D-Wash., in a statement. “We are beginning to see the
devastating consequences: centers closing, kids kicked out of the
classroom, teachers losing their jobs and entire communities losing
out.”
Closing the central Washington Head Start centers means families
will lose access to high-quality, free preschool, plus health
checks, nutritional programs and interventions for developmental
delays, Castillo said.
“And then we’re not even talking about children with learning
disabilities, with physical disabilities or considered ... homeless.
This is devastating,” Castillo said.
___
AP education writer Moriah Balingit contributed to this report.
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