President Donald Trump is proposing the next U.S. budget completely cut funding for Head Start, which provides early education to more than 800,000 children.
About 300 of those children are in Cayuga County, where Community Action Programs Cayuga/Seneca Executive Director Laurie Piccolo is watching the situation closely.
鈥淥ur community鈥檚 most at-risk children could lose access to early learning and possibly enter kindergarten unprepared,鈥 she told 人兽性交 about the possibility of Head Start losing its federal funding.聽
鈥淭hey would also lose nutritious meals, vision, hearing, developmental screenings and dental care.鈥澛犅
A total of 308 children are currently in the program in Cayuga County, Piccolo said, and CAP remains "committed to providing (them) high-quality early childhood education."聽
But losing Head Start wouldn't just affect those children, she continued. The program is also often the only source of affordable child care available to parents, particularly in rural areas. According to the , infant-based childhood education and child care costs about 17% of the median household income in Cayuga County, and increased by about 15% between 2018 and 2023.
That often forces parents to choose between paying more for child care, readjusting their work schedules or leaving the workforce altogether, according to a 2024 study by the .
Trump's proposal said that eliminating Head Start is consistent with his administration's "goals of returning control of education to the states and increasing parental control."
"The federal government should not be in the business of mandating curriculum, locations, and performance standards for any form of education," according to the proposal, which leaked last week.
Trump has also proposed nixing the聽Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, another program administered by CAP Cayuga/Seneca to help local households with utility expenses.
As they brace for the finalization of the budget by Congress later this year, Piccolo and her team are trying to be ready for what comes next.
鈥淲e are focusing on communicating the value of Head Start while exploring ways to strengthen community support if the need arises,鈥 she said.
The Trump administration has walked back an executive order that froze funding to programs that affect hundreds of thousands of families around the U.S., and the money that was put on pause would have included early learning programs that served children and low income families.
Fox - Seattle
Zach Jaworski is a reporting intern with 人兽性交 and . He can be reached at zach.jaworski@lee.net.
