Head Start survives Trump administration budget proposal
[May 03, 2025]
By MORIAH BALINGIT
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The Trump administration apparently has backed away from a
proposal to eliminate funding for Head Start, the early education
program that serves some of the nation’s neediest preschoolers.
Backers of the six-decade-old program, which educates more than half a
million children from low-income and homeless families, had been
fretting after a leaked Trump administration proposal suggested
defunding it. Project 2025, the conservative blueprint drawn up by the
Heritage Foundation and co-authored by President Donald Trump’s current
budget chief, also called for cutting Head Start. |
Students help put away supplies at the end of a reading and writing
lesson at the Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization
that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, Jan.
29, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File) |
|
But the budget summary released Friday, which outlined programs
set to receive drastic cuts or boosts, did not mention Head
Start. On a call with reporters, an administration official said
there would be “no changes” to it. The official insisted on
anonymity to preview the budget plan on a call with reporters.
Still, teachers, families and advocates remain concerned about
the stability of Head Start. The Trump administration is closing
several regional offices and laying off the staff who support
the program, which has led to funding delays that threatened to
close individual preschools. A document accidentally emailed to
grant recipients this week called for eliminating funding for
research on Head Start and other child care programs. And before
Trump took office, staffing shortages and rising costs had
forced some programs to cut the number of students they served,
or shutter altogether.
Advocates say other cuts to education and social-safety-net
programs would also hurt families served by Head Start.
“While Head Start is grateful that it was not explicitly
eliminated in this skinny budget proposal, we are concerned
about the significant cuts that threaten access to health
services, education, and support for hundreds of thousands of
families,” said Yasmina Vinci, executive director for the
National Head Start Association, in a statement.
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