The Learning Curve: Facing Potential Head Start Elimination, Some Parents Have No ‘Plan B’

On Friday evening, USA Today dropped a bombshell: President Donald Trump’s administration is considering eliminating Head Start. For the hundreds of thousands of families who rely on the program, its elimination could be a catastrophic blow. 

Head Start, created in 1965 as part of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” agenda, funds tens of thousands of free preschool centers across the country. In 2023, the program was funded to serve 778,420 children from infancy through five years old at either a Head Start or Early Head Start center.  

Its elimination would also hit those with the least the hardest. That’s because only children from families who meet specific qualifications are eligible. Those include children whose families have an income below the federal poverty threshold, homeless and foster children and children whose families receive assistance from federal programs like TANF or SSI. 

An increasing shortage of child care providers has made Head Start all the more vital to the families it serves. Already expensive child care programs have become even more costly, meaning families who rely on the program may find themselves on the losing end of a high-stakes game of musical chairs.  

‘I Don’t Have a Plan B’ 

On Monday afternoon, Phennessa Shivers was picking up her niece and nephew from the Head Start center on Home Avenue. If Head Start disappears, she said the impact on her life would be simple: “I wouldn’t be able to work.”  

Damon Carson is the executive vice president of the nonprofit Neighborhood House Association, which operates many of the Head Start centers in San Diego County. Carson oversees the nonprofit’s Head Start program, which serves about 5,000 children a year, and is the eighth largest such program in the country. 

“Having to pay for child care, as opposed to depending on a high quality program such as Head Start, puts families in a position to make a difficult decision: whether to stay at home with their children or go to work, earn a living and have their child be in a safe, secure environment,” Carson said. “In terms of their earnings, many of our families can’t afford to go to work and pay for child care on the open market.” 

For Shivers, though, the program hasn’t functioned just as child care. She feels the education provided has also had a significant impact on her niece and nephew.  

“Development-wise, it’s helped both of them. They were struggling when they first started, and they’ve come a long way because of the consistency and family-oriented way Head Start is,” she said. 

But Shivers’ story also highlights a less well-known aspect of Head Start – that the centers provide much more than just educational services.  

Carson explains: “At the time of enrollment in the Head Start program, every child receives a vision screening, a dental screening, a physical health screening and a nutrition assessment. Through these screenings and assessments, we tailor the program for that child’s individual needs,” Carson said.  

If a vision assessment finds a child needs glasses, and the family doesn’t have insurance, Head Start buys them. If the nutrition assessment finds a child doesn’t have access to healthy foods, the program helps build a diet for them. If a child needs access to mental health care, the program connects them with those resources.  

And Head Start doesn’t just focus on children, Carson said. The program also works with parents to develop and accomplish life goals. Maybe that means working with them to find better employment opportunities or even supporting a parent who’s working to get their GED or enroll in higher education. 

Shivers, for example, is currently working to adopt four of her nieces and nephews. She said her Head Start center has connected her with resources that have helped her navigate that difficult process. If Head Start were eliminated, she’s doubtful she would be able to continue to move forward with the adoption.  

“I’m taking care of eight children. I didn’t plan on doing that. I wouldn’t be able to take them and provide them a good life without Head Start,” Shivers said. “It’s scary. I don’t have a plan B.”  

Beyond the impact on families and children, Head Start’s potential elimination would have a huge impact on another group: those who work at Head Start centers. 

“There will be about 250,000 individuals across the country who will no longer be employed by the Head Start program without the funding,” Carson said. “That has a ripple effect on households of employees.” 

Given the fact that about 25 percent of the folks Head Start employs are parents of kids who once were enrolled with the program, those job eliminations would, again, disproportionately impact folks who are likely the least able to weather such financial storms.  

Trump’s Head Start U-Turn: Carson actually has some interesting insight here. During Trump’s first administration, Carson served as the president of the National Head Start Association. In that role, he actually spent time in Washington D.C. advocating for the program. 

And if you were just to look at Trump’s last term, you wouldn’t necessarily guess that he would consider eliminating Head Start. After all, the Trump administration increased funding for Head Start and Early Head Start multiple times during his first term. That funding allowed programs to do things like expand hours, offer additional staff training and develop more community partnerships.  

“During that administration, Trump invested about $1.6 billion into Head Start, so potentially proposing $0 for Head Start and Early Head Start is quite a difference,” Carson said. 

So, what gives? 

Enter the dreaded Project 2025, the exhaustive, Heritage Foundation-produced playbook for a potential second Trump term that made waves during the 2024 presidential campaign. After many of its proposals inspired opposition, Trump disowned the 900-page document, saying he didn’t even know its authors, despite many of them having served in his first administration. 

Still, many of his policy decisions during this term bear a striking resemblance to those contained in the playbook. That includes the elimination of Head Start. To Carson, the document might explain Trump’s Head Start flip flop. 

“This is the only thing that I can align the elimination of Head Start to, that there may be an attempt to pursue actions in Project 2025,” Carson said.  

What We’re Writing 

• While Covid threw all schools into disarray, San Diego County’s most rural students were especially hard hit. Many of them have not only lost the most ground since the pandemic but are also now the furthest behind. Students at some rural districts are now multiple years behind where they should be. In a recent piece I explored the unique – and not so unique – factors contributing to that worrying gap. 
• Community colleges have been dealing with an unprecedented phenomenon: fake students bent on stealing financial aid funds. In California, these fake students have stolen tens of millions of dollars in just the past couple of years. While the crisis has caused chaos at community colleges up and down the state, some Southwestern faculty feel their leaders haven’t done enough to respond. Bonus: I spoke to a local community college official who helped break down exactly how financial aid fraudsters do their swindling. Spoiler alert, generative AI and stolen identities play a big role.  
• Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon appeared at a glitzy edtech conference that took place in San Diego earlier this month. The appearance takes place at a chaotic moment for U.S. education policy, as fears swirl around cuts and what the potential elimination of the Department of Education could mean. McMahon tried to allay some of those concerns, like insisting the department will still distribute the funding it’s congressionally mandated to distribute. Time will tell.