‘Dead wrong’: Lamont says changes to Head Start would make life harder for families

Charles Walters was initially skeptical about enrolling his daughter in a Head Start early education program. 

But within a month of joining the program, which serves low-income children up to age 5, his daughter’s fine motor and communication skills had “jumped exponentially,” he said. 

Walters was sold. His 3-year-old daughter, Lillian, has been at LULAC Head Start in New Haven for two years. The program serves about 329 children in East Haven and New Haven, according to its executive director.

“When she’s not in my presence, I want it to be like I’m still there,” Walters, 39, said during a Tuesday press conference at LULAC’s main office. “That same care is still given. That same protection is still given. That same love is still given.”

Walters, state officials and early childhood education providers gathered Tuesday to lambast the Trump administration’s planned overhaul of Head Start, the federal program that funds childcare centers like LULAC. 

The proposed rule would allow for larger class sizes, no longer require degrees for many staff and loosen federal requirements for serving children with disabilities. It would also require unhoused families to provide documentation of their homelessness, and it would mandate that education programs be taught in English. 

If the changes are approved, Head Start would follow state and local childcare standards, which some researchers have found to be less stringent than the program’s longtime requirements.

The U.S. Department of Health Human Services, which administers Head Start, also plans to reduce the cap on administrative overhead from 15% to 5% of total program costs. According to an August press release, the agency estimates the changes could save $2.2 billion and support as many as 236,000 additional Head Start slots nationwide.

Connecticut served 4,847 children and 46 pregnant women across 22 Head Start programs during the 2024-25 school year, according to a spokesperson for the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, or OEC.

At Tuesday’s press conference, Gov. Ned Lamont and OEC Commissioner Elena Trueworthy called on HHS to withdraw the proposed rule. 

“They’re making life a lot more burdensome, bureaucratic, expensive and impossible for our working families,” Lamont said of the agency. “I think it’s dead wrong.”

In an emailed statement, an HHS spokesperson said the proposed rule “removes duplicative regulations and red tape that have driven up the cost of the program, decreased slots, and failed to improve outcomes for children.”

The spokesperson also noted that Head Start programs are welcome to maintain the performance standards previously required by the federal program.

“It is a shame that some elected leaders … do not trust Head Start directors, teachers, and parents to make wise decisions for the children they serve but instead believe Washington must tell all 1,600 Head Start centers across the U.S. exactly how they have to run their programs,” the spokesperson said.

Lamont stressed that Connecticut will continue to support affordable childcare through initiatives like its new Early Childhood Education Endowment, which boasts more than $700 million in funding.

Starting in July 2027, a state program funded by the endowment aims to provide free childcare to eligible families earning up to $100,000 each year and cap the childcare contribution at 7% of household income for eligible families earning more than $100,000.

“But I’m not letting the federal government off by saying we’ll just make up all the shortfall,” Lamont said.

Tuesday was the last day to submit comments on the proposed rule. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, in collaboration with other states, submitted a letter condemning the proposed changes. OEC Commissioner Trueworthy did, as well.

Trueworthy worked for Head Start for almost a decade at the start of her career, she said at the press conference. “I saw firsthand how Head Start and the Head Start model transforms lives of children, families, but also individuals such as myself,” she said.

Trueworthy condemned the proposed changes that would affect homeless families and children with disabilities, as well as the English-language instruction mandate and reduced administrative overhead. 

She noted that around 7.5% of Connecticut families enrolled in Head Start are homeless, and that about 18.5% of children in the state’s programs were diagnosed with a disability this year.

“By gutting these long-term protections, this compromises overall quality and puts children and families and providers at risk,” she said.

Marsha Guthrie, who oversees the Head Start programs at the Children’s Learnings Centers of Fairfield County, also spoke at the press conference Tuesday, where she emphasized the importance of Head Start’s performance standards. 

“Maintaining these standards is essential to ensuring that Head Start continues to provide the high quality, comprehensive services that Connecticut’s children and families deserve,” she said.

Karen Pascale, the director of Connecticut’s Head Start State Collaboration Office, described Head Start as an “essential part” of Connecticut’s early childhood resources. She cited the Head Start on Housing initiative, which provides some families enrolled in Head Start with state housing assistance.

Pascale started her career as an education disabilities coordinator at LULAC Head Start, she said.

Courtesy of CT Mirror