The Trump admin wants to gut Head Start. Even California Republicans are against it

California lawmakers are coming out against proposed changes to Head Start, the federal program that provides support services and early childhood education to low-income families.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency that oversees Head Start, submitted a proposal in August to replace and remove most of the program's standards that the agency says will relieve a bureaucratic burden. Legislators say it would essentially gut the program and remove critical standards families have come to depend on.

The division in the California Legislature matches the national landscape: Democrats firm on one side and Republicans on the other, with usually not much overlap. But on this issue, Democrats and Republicans seem to be aligned.

A bipartisan coalition of California lawmakers, 31 Democrats and 10 Republicans, sent a joint letter to the California Congressional delegation urging them to do what they can to oppose the proposed HHS changes.

“In this moment, we must all renew our commitment to young children and families, especially those furthest from opportunity,” the joint letter reads. “Reform may be warranted, but eliminating the national framework would replace clear expectations with uncertainty and risk sacrificing the evidence-based quality and services that make Head Start effective.”

Head Start was created over 60 years ago with a goal of providing child care, early childhood education and critical support services to low income families. Nationwide, the programs get kids ready for kindergarten, help provide medical and dental services for families and even offer support for pregnant women.

“As a kid growing up in a struggling home, Head Start was a lifeline for me and my family where I remember eating fresh fruit for the first time and having a positive educational environment to grow and learn, despite an otherwise difficult childhood,” Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, a Democrat representing Silicon Valley, told CALÓ News in a statement.

California’s Head Start program is the largest in the country, serving over 84,000 children last year.

The proposed changes would eliminate virtually all of the Head Start performance standards, last updated in 2024. The proposal, submitted to the Federal Register on Aug. 6, says the changes will reduce Federal bureaucratic burden and defer to states wherever possible.

The proposal would eliminate over 1,400 regulations; it goes from 130 pages of guidance to just 10. It would increase class sizes, employ fewer teachers, significantly reduce how much programs can spend on administrative and development costs, among thousands of other current regulations.

The Trump administration has previously attempted to gut funding for Head Start and implement anti-DEI measures as well as block immigrant families from participating, though those efforts were blocked by a federal judge.

“I fear the Trump Administration’s next step a year or two from now will be to defund and entirely end the Head Start program, leaving the vulnerable kids and families it critically serves and future generations of families without the help they need,” Ahrens warned.

The bipartisan letter says that while Head Start providers have raised concerns over certain requirements, the proposed changes use “a sledgehammer where a scalpel is needed.”

The changes also aim to reduce health, dental and mental health care as well as eliminate services for pregnant women who have historically had support through the program.

HHS is also proposing implementing an English-only mandate; currently, Head Start promotes dual language learning for children from all backgrounds. 

In California, roughly 50% of kids in Head Start are dual-language learners. The Federal Register proposal backs up the English-only mandate, saying that “learning English opens doors economically for families and helps individuals better engage with their communities.”

There have been dozens of studies on the positive benefits of bilingualism in early childhood education. 

An August report from Arizona State University’s Children Equity Project analyzed decades of research on dual language education and found that children who are exposed to dual languages at a young age are more likely to develop their English faster, have stronger skills in both languages, higher reading and math scores and stronger long-term outcomes.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a coalition of state attorneys general in submitting a comment letter opposing the changes.

“Rooted in decades of evidence-based research, the Head Start program has long been a reliable cornerstone of early childhood education,” the coalition’s letter reads. “However, HHS now seeks to aggressively and systematically deregulate the program—a damaging move that will produce cascading costs and burdens on the States and harm the States’ children and families.”

The coalition argued the proposed changes are unlawful and unnecessary. 

Bonta’s office did not immediately comment on the possibility of a lawsuit against the implementation of HHS’ changes to Head Start.