Boston Globe: ‘An attack on families and kids’: Healey slams Trump’s proposed Head Start changes

Governor Maura Healey criticized the Trump administration’s proposal to scale back regulations for the federally funded Head Start child-care program, calling it “reckless and wrongheaded” on Wednesday.

The rollback would result in more children being turned away from free child care, she said, as well as less well-trained teachers and a reduction in medical screenings, mental health services, and other support for low-income families.

“This is an attack on families and kids,” she said during a press conference after touring the ABCD Head Start center in Malden Wednesday with other elected officials and early education advocates. “This seems to be all part of Donald Trump’s plan to destroy education in this country.”

The proposed changes would do away with previous requirements on class size, health and developmental screenings, and home visits. Bilingual instruction would be eliminated outside of Indigenous communities, program hours could be shortened, and teaching standards for literacy, math, and social and emotional development would be dropped.

Head Start facilities would have to comply with state rules, but there are few comparable state-level requirements, raising concerns that quality will suffer and fewer services will be offered to some of the country’s most vulnerable families.

The federal Administration for Children and Families said the proposed rule changes would remove regulations that go beyond what the Head Start Act requires and give local providers more latitude. The program would continue to require hearing and vision screenings, family support for health, nutrition, and English proficiency, and other federally mandated provisions.

“By removing hyper-specific directives on how to meet these requirements gives recipients more flexibility to design comprehensive services best suited to their community’s needs,” the agency said in a statement.

Eliminating ”one-sized-fits-all federal mandates” could save as much as $2.2 billion a year and create 236,000 new slots, it said.

“They are willing to risk our kids in order to continue to fund the very wealthiest Americans,” said Representative Katherine Clark, who was also at the Malden Head Start Wednesday. “This is about weakening and watering down a program that serves hundreds of thousands of families across the country every day. … to free up money for billionaires.”

The administration had previously tried to freeze funding for Head Start, noting in a White House budget document reviewed by The New York Times that it would help end the “radical indoctrination of our children” in a program “riddled with social-emotional learning.” In June, a report by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has advised the Trump administration on past policies, called for the administration to “sunset Head Start and deregulate the program until officials end it.”

Massachusetts receives $190 million a year to serve about 10,000 children, in addition to $20 million supplemented by the state each year to boost worker wages, said Michelle Haimowitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Head Start Association.

This would have a definite impact at the Head Start program in Malden, which has 13 teachers and 10 support staff serving 110 children, said director Georgette Chiasson. The state’s strict student-teacher ratios would protect instructors, she said, but the number of support staff who meet with families and provide health support and other services would have to be cut.

Massachusetts has some of the highest standards for health and safety, said Amy Kershaw, the state’s Early Education and Care commissioner, but Head Start regulations go beyond what the state requires.

“Our health and safety standards can’t replace what the federal government is trying to take away,” she said.

The state has tried to make up for previous federal cuts to food programs and health care, but it can’t cover everything, Healey said.

“It’s hard with the mounting challenges and the cuts coming out of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress,” she said.

The comment period for the proposed changes to Head Start lasts until Oct. 6, and Healey urged community members to reach out to the White House to advocate for the program.

Carmen Rondash, a single parent with four children, relied on the Head Start program in Charlestown for help with child care, early-intervention checks, and other resources his family needed.

“It’s a really important tool for people like me to change our lives, to empower us, and to let us build ourselves,” said Rondash, who is now on the board of directors for ABCD, one of 28 organizations in the state that administers Head Start programs.

Research has shown that Head Start increases the likelihood that children will graduate from high school and attend college, but it provides much more than early childhood education, said Sharon Scott-Chandler, president of ABCD.

“A child cannot learn when they are hungry,” she said. “A parent cannot always focus on their child’s education when they are worried about healthcare, housing, food, and their child’s development.”

“The education and wellbeing of our most vulnerable children are key to the success of Massachusetts.”

—

Original article HERE.