Davids Criticizes Administration’s Proposal to Cut Head Start Programs

Yesterday, Representative Sharice Davids and 89 of her Congressional colleagues criticized the Trump Administration’s efforts to eliminate critical Head Start programs that promote early childhood development and ease the burden of child care on working families. Multiple Head Start programs in the Kansas City area have already closed this year.

In a letter to President Donald Trump and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the lawmakers demanded answers from the administration about how they intend to fill the gap left by the potential elimination of Head Start and support students, teachers, and parents who benefit from these investments. 

“A shutdown of Head Start programming would have devastating, far-reaching impacts for nearly half a million children, families and local communities,” the Members wrote. “Over 800,000 children benefit from attending 17,000 Head Start Centers across the country, strengthening their early education and providing developmental screenings.”

“Additionally, the National Head Start Association estimates that more than one million parents who use Head Start and Early Start centers would lose necessary child care, impacting their ability to attend in-person work, causing further workforce disruptions,” the Members continued. “The impacts of these cuts would be generational and long-lasting.”

The Members concluded, “While we share the administration’s goal of rooting out waste and abuse in government, attempting to defund early education programming and indiscriminately attacking our nation’s most vulnerable families is not the appropriate way to increase government efficiency.”

As a first-generation college student who worked her way from Leavenworth High School to Cornell Law School, Davids understands the value of quality education for student success and our overall economy. She has long fought to protect education and child care in Kansas and has been a fierce critic of the administration’s efforts to defund the Department of Education. She has visited multiple Head Start programs in Kansas including Kansas City Kansas Public School's Successful Beginnings, Family Conservancy, the University of Kansas Medical Center's Project Eagle, and Olathe Public Schools Head Start.

Students in early childhood education programs are less likely to repeat grades, are 25 percent more likely to graduate high school, and are four times more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree in comparison to non-Head Start students. But long-term benefits of Head Start programs are not only limited to educational success. Children in Head Start are healthier and have better social and emotional skills. In adulthood, statistics show that former Head Start students experience greater economic stability and earn higher wages.

You can read the full letter here.