For more than 60 years, Head Start has embodied one of America’s most enduring promises: that every child, regardless of circumstance, deserves a fair chance to succeed. Today, that promise faces a threat that has nothing to do with demand or program quality. It’s simple math.
Head Start serves nearly 700,000 children and families in every congressional district through a comprehensive model that combines early education, healthcare, nutrition, and family support. For many families, it is far more than preschool. It’s a lifeline that helps children get ready for school, parents work, and communities prosper.
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But the cost of delivering on that promise has steadily outpaced federal support.
Since fiscal 2024, inflation has risen 5.57%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During that same period, Congress has increased Head Start funding by just 0.7%. Programs nationwide are absorbing higher costs for food, transportation, facilities, insurance, and technology while operating on budgets that have barely changed. The result is fewer children served and a widening gap between what programs must spend and what they are funded to provide.
In response, the Administration for Children and Families has proposed rolling back workforce compensation and benefit standards adopted in 2024, arguing that doing so would reduce costs and preserve enrollment.
But the Trump administration is trying to regulate — in this case, unregulate — its way out of a problem that only Congress can solve.
The standards the administration seeks to repeal would not take effect until 2028 or 2031. Programs are struggling today because inflation has driven up operating costs while funding has remained essentially flat, not because of requirements that programs have not yet fully implemented. Buses still need fuel and maintenance. Facilities must still meet health and safety standards. Meals must still be nutritious. Technology must still be upgraded, and insurance premiums must still be paid. Eliminating future workforce standards does nothing to reduce those costs.
What would make a meaningful difference is restoring the purchasing power Head Start has lost.
The human cost of inaction is already visible. One Massachusetts program, after experiencing a 60% increase in transportation costs, is likely to eliminate bus service, cutting off access for families who depend on it most. An Iowa program leader described a familiar reality: rising costs for food, insurance, gas, and maintenance have already consumed a budget that previously absorbed one round of enrollment reductions. Without additional funding, the program will have to reduce enrollment again simply to retain its staff.
Under the president’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal, Head Start funding would remain essentially flat for a third consecutive year. Flat funding during a period of inflation and rising costs isn’t neutral — it’s a cut.
Some programs have already reduced enrollment, delayed needed facility improvements, or scaled back services simply to balance their budgets. If this trend continues, yet fewer children will have access to the comprehensive services that have made Head Start one of the nation’s most successful investments in children and families.
Ultimately, only Congress can reverse this trend. Lawmakers can restore the purchasing power Head Start has lost by providing funding that reflects today’s operating costs. That means preserving enrollment, maintaining transportation and nutrition services, investing in safe, modern facilities, and ensuring programs can recruit and retain a skilled workforce. Those investments help children build strong foundations, enable parents to remain in the workforce, and generate long-term savings across education and social service systems.
Head Start has proven that investing in children and families pays lasting dividends. The challenge today is not workforce compensation standards. It’s that federal funding has failed to keep pace with the true cost of delivering on Head Start’s promise.
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As the Department of Health and Human Services considers its final rule, Congress has a far more important decision to make. It can continue years of effectively shrinking Head Start through nearly flat funding, or it can restore the purchasing power the program has lost.
Choosing anything less accepts a continuing, slow decline. Restoring that lost purchasing power protects the promise of Head Start that America and Congress have kept for more than 60 years.
Yasmina Vinci is executive director of the National Head Start Association, representing a nationwide Head Start community that includes more than 40 million alumni who have benefited from the program’s investment in children and families.
