The Trump administration is finalizing plans to overhaul federal regulations for Head Start, the 60-year-old early childhood education program, in a move that could dismantle decades of learning standards and accountability. Draft rules nearing completion at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would reduce over 120 pages of existing requirements to just a dozen, according to reporting by The Bulwark on July 19, later confirmed by The NewsHour and The New York Times.
Current standards require Head Start programs to ensure five-year-olds can count to 10, recognize letters, and produce beginning sounds in words like “dog.” They also mandate structured assessments to track progress, with results shared regularly with teachers, parents, and home visitors. These measures were established in 2007 during the program’s reauthorization, when it was expanded to include both child development and preschool education components.
Between 2007 and 2025, Head Start’s budget expanded from $6.9 billion to $12.3 billion, even as enrollment declined from 1 million to 715,000.
The deregulatory push aligns with broader administration efforts, including past attempts to restrict participation for immigrant families. It also reflects a pattern seen across education agencies, where political appointees have targeted research and assessment functions—often the most critical yet least politically charged aspects of their operations. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 document had recommended eliminating Head Start alongside the Education Department.
Educators and policymakers increasingly agree that early childhood programs must prioritize academic readiness, yet the proposed changes would remove the very standards designed to address gaps in kindergarten preparedness. National assessments show that half or more of U.S. five-year-olds enter kindergarten unprepared in basic skills.
The draft regulations would eliminate most of the Head Start Early Learning Child Outcomes Framework, which outlines developmental goals from birth to age five. In its place, programs would receive broader flexibility, though it remains unclear how local operators, many lacking advanced degrees, will translate vague guidelines into measurable progress for children.
The proposed rules would also scrap standardized assessment requirements, replacing them with “ongoing information” collected through informal methods like portfolios or teacher observations. While updates would still be shared with families, the absence of a formal curriculum or benchmarks could lead to inconsistent progress tracking across programs.
The final rules are expected within weeks after OMB review. Once published, they would apply to the 1,400 local Head Start programs serving nearly 700,000 children annually.
