The Trump administration is moving forward with sweeping changes to Head Start, a key early education program serving more than 750,000 of the nation's neediest children.
The program has been around since the 1960s and helps low-income children under the age of 5. Under the proposed changes, the program would no longer ban expelling children or require small class sizes. The proposal also includes new caps on administrative costs, a new English-only rule, a new emphasis on father engagement, and a focus on marriage, relationships, food and exercise.
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Lizbeth White, who leads the program, maintains that states and individual schools will still have the ability to set their own rules.
"Our aim at the federal level is to step back and clear the path so programs can reach their full potential," White said. "The federal government sets the floor, but local programs, educators and parents set the ceiling."
Many advocates for Head Start do not share that optimism. The Virginia Head Start Association said in a statement that the changes "would strip away the protections that have made Head Start one of the nation's most successful investments in young children and families."
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The National Head Start Association is taking a more measured approach, saying "fewer rules cannot mean fewer results" and that the organization "will read every page of this proposal against whether it keeps that promise or quietly lets it go."
The group encourages supporters of Head Start to speak out during the public comment period, which runs until Oct. 6.
