Head Start advocates brace for possibility of Trump eliminating funding

The Trump administration is considering eliminating funding for the Head Start program, which is dedicated to free early child care services — a move that one advocate says would be “catastrophic.”

“This proposal does not reflect fiscal responsibility — it reflects a disinvestment in our future,” Yasmina Vinci, the executive director of the National Head Start Association (NHSA), said in a statement Thursday. “Eliminating funding for Head Start would be catastrophic. It would be a direct attack on our nation’s most at-risk children, their well-being, and their families.”

USA Today cited an official familiar with the plan and The Washington Post cited a document from the administration that outlines a rough budget for the Department of Health and Human Services over the next fiscal year. In it, Head Start’s funding goes to zero. While NPR has obtained a copy of the document, it has not yet been able to verify its authenticity.

NPR has reached out to the White House for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Head Start is an early learning program founded in 1965 that sits under the umbrella of the Department of Human and Health Services. The organization provides free services for parents, and children up to the age of 5, including health screenings, meals and snacks and a financial literacy curriculum.

In fiscal year 2022, Head Start received funds to serve more than 800,000 families.

Kayla Householder has worked at Head Start in West Virginia for the past 12 years. She makes house visits each week to a dozen families, who have children ranging from newborns to 3-year-olds.

“Many of the families that I work with are devastated, and they’re asking questions,” she said. “They’re concerned of what this is gonna mean for the services that they’re receiving currently.”

Householder said she began bracing herself for the ax to come down on the organization in January, after the election.

“I was very nervous and already had some suspicion that this may come up, so I was definitely still shocked, frightened, nervous,” she said. “Not only do I love my job — I have a passion to give back and help people break cycles, and learn how to hopefully have long-term fixes, instead of just quick fixes. But the families — they need these programs.”

She has been encouraging people on social media to call their local congressional representatives to express their concerns and sign a petition NHSA has been circulating.

Head Start was spearheaded by Sargent Shriver, the brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s anti-poverty programs.

Shriver’s daughter, journalist Maria Shriver, condemned the budget proposal on X, writing: “My dad started Head Start. Head Start has changed the lives of millions of families. Head Start’s work is vital to children and working families today. This is a potential disaster. Let’s not let this happen!”

Several Democratic politicians also took issue with the idea.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said on X: “No, Mr. Trump. We won’t allow you to pay for tax breaks to billionaires by eliminating Head Start which provides early education to over 800,000 children… Your budget proposal is morally obscene. It must be defeated.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said, “The Trump Administration is once again going back on their word, and now, HeadStart programs that more than 10,000 kids and their families across our state depend on are at risk. I will fight any action that messes with our kids and families.”

“Head Start programs provide essential child care to hundreds of thousands of families in our most vulnerable communities across our country,” Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono said. “Early childhood education, developmental screenings, meals, health care—cut, all thanks to Trump.”