As a young, single mother, Kira Lowe had struggled to find childcare for the first of her three daughters.
She was in her early 20s when she had her first child, Keri, and Lowe relied on her grandmother for childcare so that she could work to support her daughter. But after her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, Lowe had to seek help elsewhere. She had a difficult time finding care for Keri because the little girl was not yet potty trained.
Then she learned about Head Start, a free program that provides childcare and other services for low-income families. That program was crucial for Lowe in her ability to support Keri, now 8, and her second daughter, Brooklyn, now 5.
“It was a big help,” said Lowe, who lives in Martinsville. “Once I was able to get them in, I was able to work, and I was able to provide for my kids, so it turned out great.”
The Trump administration announced in August an effort to cut federal costs for Head Start and free up childcare slots in the program, but advocates in Virginia fear those changes could lead to a decrease in services in rural areas.
The Head Start program was funded to serve 715,873 children and pregnant women in centers, family homes and family childcare homes across the country — including 12,384 in Virginia — in fiscal year 2024, according to the federal Head Start office. The total cost of the program that year was roughly $12.2 billion.
The administration says that the August proposal would open up 236,000 Head Start slots and free up $2.2 billion per year in federal funds by 2031 by easing regulations.
Advocates for the program say those regulatory cuts would lead to lower-quality services. According to the administration, states will have the final say on regulatory changes that concern the advocates. But Virginia officials aren’t saying how they would shape the program if given that leeway.
Elected officials and others weigh in on the proposed changes
Head Start provides free early childhood education and childcare for low-income families. The federal program, which started 61 years ago under President Lyndon B. Johnson, also provides school day services for children, developmental screenings of the child’s physical and mental health and early intervention for children who may have been identified with a learning disability, among other services.
Proposed changes to Head Start would alter the federal standards for the program while giving more control to parents and states. Advocates say the cutback of those federal standards could lead to a reduction in the quality of health and wellness programs for pregnant women and young children.
Read more about Head Start and other childcare initiatives in Virginia
The proposal would also decrease the amount that the program is allowed to spend on administrative costs from a 15% cap to 5%. That change is expected to save $2.2 billion, which the government plans to reinvest in the program to create more slots, Alex Adams, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for family support, told National Public Radio in August.
“The appropriate amount of each Head Start grant that should be allocated to administrative overhead is debatable,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, when asked about the rule changes.
“The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that 15% of the total money going to Head Start agencies for administrative overhead and not for education of children is too high,” he added.
The federal government’s proposal would also shift decisions about several standards — such as student-teacher ratios, education requirements, background checks and transportation practices — to the states, according to NPR.
“This proposal does not come with one more dollar, and the things they are trying to eliminate are things that are vital to the quality of success, like teacher credentialing and having regulations for class sizes and ratios,” Dawn Ault, executive director of Virginia Head Start Association, an advocacy group for the program, said in a Zoom interview.
“What it’s doing is stripping away the quality of the program,” she added.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said that the Trump administration has “continually undermined Head Start and the programs that support America’s children and families.” The administration’s actions have included withholding and delaying funds, cutting staff and funding.
“I am deeply concerned our young children will lose a critical lifeline in early childhood education and comprehensive health and social services,” Warner said via email.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he shares the concerns that the Trump administration’s proposed changes to Head Start could severely harm the program and its ability to provide services.
“I’m committed to doing everything I can to prevent the administration from making changes like these that would hurt our families and our overall economy,” Kaine said in a statement.
Once the proposed rules are final, Congress can challenge them through a Congressional Review Act resolution.
Over the past three years, the Head Start program has received minimal funding increases. In fiscal years 2024 and 2025, it saw an appropriation of $12.2 billion, and in fiscal year 2026, it saw a 0.7% increase in funding to $12.3 billion.
If approved, the proposal would lead to fewer teachers or other staff, an increase in the number of students per teacher, fewer hours of service and less time spent on parental coaching, home visiting, health and mental health supports, among other items, Ault added.
The federal Administration for Children and Families, which manages Head Start, pushed back against that characterization.
“Flexibility is permission, not a mandate. Any Head Start program that likes its current performance standards is welcome to maintain those same standards,” a spokesperson for the federal Head Start office said via email this week, when asked about the change in standards.
The spokesperson, who did not provide their name, added that the proposed rule would remove “prescriptive federal formulas to allow local programs to align staffing ratios and group sizes with applicable state and local law, rather than a single federally mandated standard.”
The person added that components of Head Start that are required by statute would remain in place and will continue to be enforced through federal monitoring and oversight. Those components include health and mental health supports, family services, disability services and school readiness preparation.
Republican Congressman John McGuire of Goochland County had a different view of the proposed rule changes, which he said “aim to unlock more resources for children and families that use the program.”
“By reducing the current red tape in place, and creating more flexibility, the program will be able to serve more folks in need,” he said in a statement provided by his office.
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt County, did not respond to a request for comment on the rule changes.
Head Start’s footprint in Southwest and Southside Virginia
Head Start programs are administered by the federal Office of Head Start, which falls under the Administration for Children and Families and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Office of Head Start awards nearly all federal funds directly to public agencies, private nonprofit and for-profit organizations, tribal governments and school systems to operate Head Start programs in local communities.
Virginia received $184.4 million from the federal government for Head Start in fiscal year 2024.
Alyssa Schwenk, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Education, said Wednesday by email that the department is monitoring the federal rule process and will “continue to provide support and coordination to Virginia Head Start grantees and program leaders in responding to any future changes to program guidelines or requirements.”
Asked if Virginia plans to maintain the current regulations if the federal rule change is finalized, Schwenk reiterated her previous comment and said that she cannot comment on hypotheticals.
Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke and chair of the House of Delegates Education Committee, said during a phone call on Thursday that federal changes to the Head Start program would be a challenge for the state to manage, even though the General Assembly invested a record amount of money in early childhood development in the last few years. He added that the General Assembly is analyzing the local impacts of the proposed federal rule changes.
“However, with the level of poverty in many of the jurisdictions in Southwest Virginia, any cuts to Head Start could potentially be pretty devastating,” he said. “We would be committed to doing our best to fill some of the slots, but it would potentially have a big impact here in Virginia.”
He said that there’s already a waitlist of more than 10,000 children across Virginia for a slot in an early childhood education program and that federal changes to Head Start could lead to childcare deserts.
Virginia had a funded Head Start enrollment of 10,893 in fiscal year 2025. That enrollment included children in center-based programs, home-based programs and family childcare, and services for pregnant women. There were 149 Head Start sites that received federal funding in fiscal year 2025 across Southside, western and Southwest Virginia, according to data provided by Ault.
Roughly 3,300 children are served at Head Start locations across Southside and Southwest Virginia, according to data provided by the federal Head Start office.
“In rural communities, there are a lot of childcare deserts, and sometimes Head Start is the only option for families,” Ault said.
“I believe there will be a lot of resignations, a lot of quality teachers and leadership. We’re not retaining this workforce,” she added, if proposed changes to the program are approved.
Ault expressed concern regarding possible cuts to transportation services for the program in rural areas and how cuts to home-based programs could affect young families and single parents.
“How are some of these families going to get their child to a Head Start center?” she said.
There are two models for Head Start: center-based and home-based. A lot of rural areas have home-based Head Start options, which involve a teacher coming to a child’s home once a week to work with the family on early childhood development and group socialization.
“A lot of our parents are young — they’re teen moms,” she said. “If home-based is no longer going to exist, how are these parents going to get education about parenting?”
What are the next steps regarding the federal proposal?
The proposal was released in early August. After a 60-day public comment period, the federal agency will determine what stays and what is removed from the proposal; then it will become a final rule, likely in January, with an effective date. New requirements could become effective in a staggered rollout.
“This does not require Congress, this is from the administration, from the agency, Health and Human Services,” Ault said.
Until the proposal becomes a final rule with an effective date, nothing has changed for the Head Start program.
“Head Start is still open. Everything is status quo for right now. Nothing has changed. All of the regulations that we currently have are in effect until we hear about a final rule,” Ault said.
Now 30, Lowe has three young daughters, and she has begun volunteering at the Refuge Temple Head Start program in Martinsville. Refuge Temple has 69 Head Start slots.
“It’s a great opportunity for kids to learn and grow — just to get in to learn the fundamentals so they’ll be ready to start real school. I think it’s a big help, and I think the program should continue. It helps a lot of parents, single parents or parents who struggle,” she said.
A recent graduate of a medical assistant and phlebotomy program, Lowe is hoping to find work as a phlebotomist and to return to school to get training as a nurse. Her two oldest daughters attended the Head Start program and are now in K-12 schools where they were placed in advanced classes. Lowe plans to send her youngest, 2-year-old Syla, to Head Start once she is old enough.
