Where We Stand on Head Start

The Administration has proposed sweeping changes to Head Start’s Program Performance Standards. The BUILD Initiative believes families, educators, and communities deserve to understand what’s in these proposals — and why the proposed changes run counter to our belief that race, place, and income should not be predictors of outcomes for young children.

Four things concern us most:

• Place should not determine quality and safety. The proposed change replaces federal staff-to-child ratio requirements with state licensing minimums. Current federal ratios are stricter than every state’s for three of four age categories. NIEER’s analysis found that nine states would see toddler-to-staff ratios more than double under the change.
• Workforce equity. A companion rule rescinds the 2024 wage and benefit standards, widening the pay gap for a workforce – primarily women of color – paid well below similarly credentialed K-12 teachers.
• Reduced access. The proposed rule strips the regulatory detail that enforces disability enrollment and homelessness protections — the statutory minimum standards remain, but the enforcement detail does not. It also requires English-only instruction, reversing critical current dual-language support.
• Systems fragmentation. Trading one set of national requirements for 50 state systems is the antithesis of coherent, aligned early childhood systems.

National, state, and local partners across the early childhood field have raised serious concerns about both. This document includes a summary of what our partners are saying, followed by concrete actions and resources for you and your organization. The content reflects our partners’ own statements and comments — we agree with what they’ve said and are sharing it here with full source attribution.