More than 1 million parents wouldn’t be able to go to work under the proposal, the National Head Start Association warned late Friday.
Hands Off! rally in Milwaukee protests federal cuts to services
Milwaukee participated in the national Hands Off! rallies that protested cuts to the federal agencies that impact local services.
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is considering a budget proposal that would zero out funding for Head Start, a program created during Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty” that offers child care and preschool education to low-income families, according to an official familiar with the plan.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss the plan publicly, said the White House’s fiscal year 2026 funding blueprint does not allocate any money toward Head Start and lists it among many programs to be eliminated.
Also on the chopping block is the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps struggling households pay for heating and cooling, the official said.
The White House declined to address allegations that Head Start was endangered.
“No final funding decisions have been made,” said Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
A presidential budget is usually akin to a wish list – only Congress can allocate federal funding. While Trump’s plan would not immediately impact families, it indicates the program that’s been around for decades faces a real threat of closure. It’s unclear whether congressional Republicans, who have, for the most part, backed President Trump’s policies in his second term, would be willing to break with the White House to fight for Head Start’s future.
The National Head Start Association warned on Friday that the administration’s proposal to eliminate the program’s funding would be “catastrophic.” More than 1 million parents who rely on the program wouldn’t be able to go to work, said Yasmina Vinci, the group’s executive director.
Meals, developmental screenings and health care for nearly 800,000 children would disappear, she said.
“We urge every parent, every American, and every believer in the American dream to reach out to their elected officials to express their outrage about such a proposal,” Vinci said.
The decision represents the latest proposal from Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint, to emerge from the Trump administration. The president appointed Russell Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, to lead the budget office, which is now pushing to cut Head Start in Trump’s new budget plan.
The program promotes school readiness for young children in low-income families. Between 2021 and 2022, Head Start served just over 800,000 children and pregnant women. Since 1965, it has helped nearly 40 million families, according to the federal government.
Though Head Start programs have long suffered from short staffing and flat funding, the Trump administration’s government efficiency efforts have hit them especially hard. This month, layoffs at the Health and Human Services Department prompted the closure of roughly a half-dozen regional Head Start offices.
Those cuts left people like Jennie Mauer, the executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, in “total shock,” she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Janice Smith, the early childhood services director at the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency, said in a recent interview with the Detroit Free Press, also part of the USA TODAY Network, that the Head Start office layoffs were just as sudden for her.
“None of us saw this coming,” she said.
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.