For more than 60 years, Head Start has helped children from families with low incomes prepare for school while connecting them to nutritious meals, health care, and support for their development. Parents rely on these programs for dependable care and help building greater stability for their families.

The Trump administration is threatening that foundation. After disrupting funding and cutting the federal staff who support local programs, it has proposed eliminating most of the national standards governing Head Start’s services and quality.

These changes would undermine the care children receive and leave programs struggling to preserve services with fewer protections and less federal support. Families in rural communities, where Head Start may be the only licensed child care option nearby, would face especially devastating consequences.

The proposed rule would:

• Remove federal class size limits and teacher-child ratio requirements.

• Eliminate detailed requirements for health screenings and health, mental health, and dental services.

• Weaken requirements supporting children with disabilities and access for children experiencing homelessness or in foster care.

• Undermine support for multilingual learners and impose an English instruction requirement on most programs.

• Strip away requirements for family support and parents’ participation in program decisions.

The National Women’s Law Center’s new resource, The Trump Administration’s Ongoing Attacks on Child Care, Families, & Working Women, documents how these actions fit into a wider campaign that threatens access to care and families’ economic security.

Congress must oppose these attacks on Head Start and child care. In fiscal year 2027 spending bills, lawmakers should prohibit HHS from issuing, implementing, or enforcing the destructive Head Start rule or any similar rule, require the existing standards to remain in effect, and protect the funding programs need to serve families.

Click “Start Writing” to tell your senators and representative to include enforceable protections for Head Start in 2027 spending bills and defend the children and families who depend on it.