Education and child advocacy leaders are warning that a proposal to eliminate federal funding for Head Start could devastate Texas families, erasing decades of progress in early childhood education and worsening the state's ongoing child care crisis.
Leaders with the National Head Start Association and the Texas Head Start Association on Monday called on lawmakers to maintain investments in Head Start — a federally-funded program designed to promote school readiness among children from low-income families by providing education, health, nutrition and family support services.
"Head Start isn't just about early childhood, it actually deals with a more comprehensive approach to poverty," said Henry Jones, managing partner of the Texas Head Start Association, during a virtual press conference on Monday morning.
The Head Start program, which was established in 1965 and operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, serves children from birth to age five. In Texas alone, Head Start and Early Head Start programs serve more than 65,000 children across the state, according to Head Start's 2023 fiscal year report.
Jones warned that eliminating funding would leave thousands of children without access to early education and critical support services. This sentiment was echoed by Deborah Bergeron, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, during Monday's press conference.
"It is such a dynamic program that hits on all aspects of child development and growth," Bergeron said. "It is focused on families, prioritizing parent choice — lifting parent voice in the process — and really empowering parents who are living in poverty."
The Trump administration is expected to soon unveil a budget proposal that'll reportedly aim to eliminate several federal programs, including Head Start. According to the New York Times, the White House's budget proposal claims the program uses a "radical" curriculum and gives preference to families without legal status.
"I don't quite understand it," said Bergeron on Monday. "Some of the language in the proposed budget itself is even a little confusing. (It) refers to Head Start as an education program."
"That's kind of like referring to the Marines as a fitness program," she added.
Bergeron also emphasized that eliminating the program would deal a significant blow to child care access in an already vulnerable state like Texas. Since last year, Texas has lost nearly 75,000 child care providers, according to data compiled by child advocacy nonprofit Children at Risk. The nonprofit also found that nearly 600,000 Texas children ages five and under had working parents last year who made below 200% of the federal poverty line.
Additionally, a 2023 study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Texas Association of Business and Early Matters found that Texas loses more than $9 billion in economic activity every year due to inaccessible child care.
According to Kim Kofron, director of early childhood education for Children at Risk, Head Start not only has economic benefits, but it also "reduces crime, it improves health options and health outcomes, strengthens families and fuels our economy."
"If we pull funding from Head Start, we are not trimming the fat, but we are cutting into the bone of our future," Kofron said. "The return on investment of early childhood education is unquestionable."
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