Since taking office, President Donald Trump has borne out many aspects of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for slashing the federal government.
But Trump appears to have departed from one of its key goals in the realm of education, with major consequences for California. A recent budget proposal released by the White House does not seek to cut Head Start, the early childhood education program that serves about half a million low-income and unhoused kids nationwide. An unnamed official told The Associated Press that Trump is not pursuing changes to the program after all, which had been in the administration’s sights for elimination.
Despite the reprieve, Bay Area parents and Head Start employees say they’re still worried about the future of the program, which provides free education, health services and nutrition for about 80,000 kids age five and younger statewide, while employing about 27,000 adults.
California receives about $1.5 billion in federal funds for Head Start each year. Congress, which is controlled by a narrow majority of Republicans, writes the federal budget, and Trump has tasked Republicans with carving out $1.5 trillion in budget cuts.
Advocates concerned about potential cuts rallied with a bipartisan group of California lawmakers at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, where they called on California’s delegation in Congress to not only protect Head Start, but expand it.
“Head Start isn’t just one option among many,” said Heather Hadwick, a Republican who represents Redding and much of Northern California. “Often, it’s the only place where a child can get a meal, a health screening, or often, the only learning program option at all in the community.”
Hadwick said she was enrolled in the program as a child, which helped her single mother hold down multiple jobs and put food on the table.
“Let me be clear: cutting Head Start will devastate my communities in rural California,” she said.
Hadwick joined about 20 other Republicans and most Democrats in the Legislature in signing a letter that asks California’s members of Congress to oppose any cuts, if the Republican majority does pursue them.
The advocacy campaign is led by Silicon Valley Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, who also said he enrolled in Head Start as a kid. According to Ahren’s office, about 1,700 kids currently attend Head Start programs in Santa Clara County.
But the letter-writing campaign is moot for Rep. Ken Calvert, a Corona Republican in a hotly-contested district, who said Head Start funding isn’t at risk.
“President Trump’s budget does not contain any cuts to the Head Start program, which continues to enjoy bipartisan support in Congress,” he said in an emailed statement. “I am committed to working with my colleagues to protect the vital programs our low-income families, disabled, veterans, and seniors rely upon in the appropriations process.”
That message isn’t reassuring for local families and Head Start employees, who spoke Tuesday at the news conference.
Iris Garcia, a parent of a toddler in Head Start who lives in San Rafael, said at the news conference Tuesday that she suffered from debilitating post-partum depression after giving birth, and she struggled to find care for her infant daughter.
That changed when a local Head Start program reached out to her, Garcia said. With her child cared for during the day, and learning, Garcia said she could take on a full-time job and volunteer in her community.
Surrounded by lawmakers and like-minded advocates from her perch at a podium, Garcia was emotional telling the story of her recovery — and when she considered the loss of Head Start opportunities for herself and other families.
“I’m a little terrified today that Head Start will be taken away,” she said. “This is not just numbers. This is not a budget. This is our children getting an education.”
Melanee Cottrill, executive director of the organization Head Start California that advocates for local programs, said she is also concerned that Republicans will try to push through cuts after all.
Head State programs statewide are already struggling due to behind-the-scenes administrative decisions by Trump administration officials, she said. As with other federal programs, officials cut down Head Start’s federal staff and closed its regional office in San Francisco, where employees had administered the federal grants that directly fund local Head Start programs, Cottrill said.
“They’ve already made significant changes to the detriment of the program,” Cottrill said.
Broadly, Head Start providers in California have not closed and employees are “barely” holding onto the jobs, she said.
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