Local Head Start would feel impact of Trump's proposed cuts to national childhood education program

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The Trump administration is asking Congress to eliminate Head Start, a national early childhood education program that is federally funded. The administration is proposing the cuts for the 2026 fiscal year.

It is not clear if the proposed cuts will be accepted by lawmakers. The AP reports, while Congress often ignores a president’s budget request, the proposed elimination of Head Start highlights the administration’s priorities as President Donald Trump seeks to overhaul education in the United States.

The Holyoke, Chicopee, Springfield (HCS) Head Start program provides full services for a child's healthcare and educational needs at no cost to eligible families. HCS Head Start CEO, Nicole Blais, said they serve 600 children in Hampden County.

"That impact that the family would now be scrambling to secure care when we're have been so focused on increasing access. You know, I feel like we're going back 60 years instead of moving forward with all of what we've learned about the importance of investing in the early years," Blais said.

She said these cuts would not only impact the children they serve, but their families as well.

"About 65% of our families are working or going to school. We're concerned that [this] could disrupt them and then that could disrupt their employers or their studies and so on and so on," she said. "This ripple effect... will erode the safety nets for children and families in the community."

Blais said there are three Head Starts serving western Massachusetts from Hampden County to the Berkshires. While there is funding from the state they can access, it would never supplement the federal funding they currently receive.

"Head Start was created 60 years ago with that vision to ensure that children, regardless of their of their background, were afforded that 'head start' in school and in life, so that when children arrived in kindergarten, they would be ready to rock and roll," she said. " Our plan is to educate the local community and our local leaders on the important work that Head Start does locally, statewide, across the region [and] across the country."

Blais said they'll be watching as the congressional budget process develops.