The Trump administration is taking steps to deregulate the anti-poverty early childhood program Head Start, giving local communities and states more authority and flexibility to design their programs.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Head Start program, announced a new proposed rule on Thursday that would cut agency regulations that burden local programs.
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Head Start was created in the 1960s as part of the Great Society welfare programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Today, the program provides educational opportunities, nutrition assistance, and health resources for roughly 700,000 children under 5 and their families living at or below the federal poverty level.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said ahead of the new rule announcement that he has a strong personal connection to Head Start and has worked in his current role to preserve it.
“It’s a program that works for the most vulnerable, the poorest kids in our society, and it’s really important we protect it,” Kennedy said during a press conference ahead of the new rule announcement.
President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget proposal for Congress included enacting the level appropriated by the legislature last year, $12.27 billion, but early drafts of the president’s budget reportedly eliminated the program entirely.
Some evidence suggests that Head Start is one of the most effective federal anti-poverty programs, with alumni often having higher-than-average salaries during their 20s and 30s than their peers. Long-term Head Start alumni are more likely to graduate from high school, have greater emotional regulation and self-esteem, and are less likely to be incarcerated in adolescence or adulthood.
Kennedy said Head Start lost about 100,000 funded positions during the Biden administration. The Trump administration’s goal is to see an increase in enrollment by saving roughly $2.2 billion and reinvesting it into the program.
“There’s a long waiting list for Head Start, and as I said, the Biden administration cut 100,000 slots,” Kennedy said. “We are hoping to add up to 236,000 with these changes while protecting the program as it was designed.”
Administration for Children and Families Assistant Secretary Alex Adams said the new rule does not change “the statutory framework, the eligibility determination, the emphasis on healthy development and school readiness,” and other core elements of the program.
Adams said the new rule change would “give room for flexibility and innovation at the local level” for the roughly 1,600 providers across the country. The proposed rule is meant to eliminate duplicative regulations and give parent committees that govern Head Start programs more autonomy.
The new proposed rule also shifts governing authority to the states to determine group size ratios, education requirements, background checks, and transportation standards.
Adams said multiple times during the press conference that “flexibility is permission; it’s not a mandate” when it comes to changes in program administration at the local level.
“If a program likes its ratio, it can keep its ratio. If a program likes its group size, it can keep its group size. This does not require them to do anything different,” Adams said.
The goal of the new rule, according to a press release, is to “modernize safety standards by replacing rigid federal mandates with state flexibility and practical, competency-based alternatives.”
The rule, if finalized, would also cut administrative overhead from 15% of program funding to 5%, with the intention of freeing up federal dollars to go toward program enrollees instead of administrator salaries and offices.
Kennedy said the only new requirement for Head Start programs involved in the new proposed rule would be to increase physical activity minimums for children and to improve nutrition standards as part of the Make America Healthy Again agenda.
Children in Head Start education programs will be required to have a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity for each three-and-a-half hours of instructional activity. Programs will also be instructed to include children in certain age-appropriate food preparation activities to teach about healthy education.
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Kennedy told the Washington Examiner he has had multiple visits to Head Start programs since becoming secretary, in which children are engaged in food preparation as part of their educational experience.
“The kids asked questions about the food, about where it comes from, and how to prepare it,” Kennedy said. “It’s just a wonderful part of a, you know, sacred experience of preparing meals every day that a lot of American families have forgotten about.”
The proposed new rule has a 60-day comment period.
