Register right away.
In addition to being a significant milestone, Head Start’s 60th birthday in May served as a reminder of what can be achieved via federal investment in communities and families.
More than 38 million children have benefited from this program since 1965, helping them lay the groundwork for stability, health, and education. It established a now-familiar two-generation model that supports parents while promoting learning and development in young children. However, because of political and economic unrest, Head Start has been targeted for deletion in Project 2025 and, for a few weeks in April, it appeared unlikely to reach 61 despite its creative design and track record.
The issue to raise in light of the uncertainties surrounding the future of Head Start is whether the government will take the necessary steps to support the program and the success of our youngest generation.
Although the immediate threat appears to have passed, the program nevertheless faces significant obstacles, including persistent underfunding, political obstacles, and a national dialogue that far too frequently ignores the early educators carrying out the work. Since COVID-19, these difficulties have been considerably worse. Many programs struggled to sustain membership, retain personnel, or even keep their doors open after supplementary pandemic-era funding expired. Waitlists for Head Start programs were months long in some regions. Due to ongoing personnel shortages, some organizations were compelled to limit classroom size and cut back on services. Over 20% of Head Start classrooms were shuttered in 2023, with many of these closures being caused by a lack of competent workers.
Due to capacity issues and financial eligibility requirements, Head Start, the closest thing the United States has to a nationwide preschool program, only covers a small percentage of eligible children and families. When it comes to the proportion of children that receive formal education before kindergarten, the United States stands out among peer countries because to the limited availability of free, easily accessible early learning programs. According to a 2022 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States placed 33rd out of 38 industrialized nations in terms of the number of children aged 3 and 4 enrolled in early learning programs.
States and localities add extra early education investments to Head Start funds to provide more children and families with critical early learning opportunities, creating a patchwork system that is intricately knitted together from several inadequate financial streams. When any one of these interconnected financing sources is endangered, local early education systems are put at risk.
Local initiatives continue to produce outcomes despite these limitations. The voices of those closest to the task must therefore be given priority. For the past year, a nationwide working group of regional early childhood experts has met once a month to discuss the difficulties of putting programs into action locally and to help one another scale high-quality early learning opportunities for young children and their families.
These leaders have discussed how they are strengthening coalitions to promote early learning programs, creating workforce pipelines rooted in local communities, and simplifying enrollment through the simplification of intake procedures. Working closely with the communities they serve, they are creating programs that are egalitarian, culturally sensitive, and centered on what families truly need, even with minimal funding. While dealing with ongoing administrative difficulties and staffing shortages, they are helping children with disabilities, addressing urban and rural families and children living in poverty worldwide, and recognizing language variety.
One of their main areas of concern has been Head Start. During one of the discussions, Becky Mercatoris, the director of the Department of Children Initiatives in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, explained that when Head Start departs, it affects our daycare services. If we abruptly remove that Jenga puzzle piece, there are numerous unforeseen effects.
Head Start is far from safe, and there have been plans to reduce other government programs that assist families with young children, even though the immediate budget crisis has subsided. The Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program, which assists student parents through campus-based child care facilities, and the Preschool Development Grants, which allow states to establish more robust systems, are proposed to be eliminated in the budget. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid, two vital social safety net programs that assist families in meeting their basic requirements, are also under attack in Congress. Already, the expense of housing, childcare, and even diapers is overwhelming parents. Many people desire more children but are unable to pay for them. Why undermine initiatives that benefit them?
These concerns to funding for early childhood education go beyond simple policy choices. They reflect the priorities of the country. Programs for families and children are frequently the first to be cut when financial constraints arise. That is shortsightedness, not fiscal restraint. Better health, higher lifetime earnings, and a decreased demand for social services later in life are some of the greatest public returns on investments made in young children.
One of the country’s most thoroughly researched, locally based, and politically sponsored programs is still Head Start. It is clearly successful. The way forward is obvious. In order for Head Start to expand access, particularly for infants and toddlers, the federal government should increase funding. Additionally, the childcare workforce should be stabilized and strengthened with improved pay and career development opportunities. Finally, local providers should continue to be heard because they are the ones closest to families on the ground and know what they truly need.
Families are weakened, the workforce is constrained, and the nation’s long-term economic growth is impeded when America’s youngest children receive inadequate investment. The first 60 years of Head Start shown what can be achieved when the United States makes early investments and pays attention to those carrying out the work. Whether our nation’s leaders are prepared to act on the evidence and provide for America’s children will determine the course of the next 60 years.
