On October 5, 2026, the National Academy of Education (NAEd) urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to withdraw its proposed rule, “Reducing Federal Burden for Head Start Programs” (Docket No. ACF-2026-0595). The rule would strip away the research-based standards that protect the more than 800,000 young children and pregnant women from families with low incomes whom Head Start serves each year, including children with disabilities, children learning English, and children experiencing homelessness.
Drawing on decades of research, the NAEd comment shows that the rule would put Head Start children at risk:
- Fewer adults watching more children. The rule would eliminate federal child-staff ratios. Eighty percent of children in Head Start and Early Head Start would face worse ratios, and in some states one adult could be responsible for as many as 12 two-year-olds. HHS’s own analysis projects up to 25,000 fewer teaching staff and acknowledges that children could receive less individualized attention.
- Less time learning. Programs could cut services to as little as three hours a day and 128 days a year.
- Young children expelled. The rule would end Head Start’s prohibition on expelling young children, a practice that falls most heavily on Black children and children with disabilities.
- Ending home-language support. A new English-only mandate would bar instruction in children's home languages, even where teachers speak them, although research shows home-language instruction can strengthen English learning.
- Less support for children with disabilities. The rule would replace Head Start’s requirements for serving children with disabilities with a single sentence directing programs to follow existing law. It would also remove the requirement to screen children for developmental delays within 45 days of entry, so delays could go unidentified for longer.
- Mental health requirements eliminated. The rule would rescind every mental health requirement in the Performance Standards, including regular mental health consultation for teachers.
- Barriers for the neediest families. New documentation requirements and weakened protections for children experiencing homelessness would make it harder for the families Head Start exists to serve to enroll.
The comment finds that HHS cites virtually no research to justify these changes, does not show that it consulted experts as the Head Start Act requires, and ignores the Act’s prohibition on reducing the services required in 2007. The NAEd urges HHS to withdraw the rule and keep the standards that research shows make Head Start work for children.