Project 2025 would eliminate Head Start.
Page 482 of Project 2025:
Eliminate the Head Start program.
Head Start benefits more than 800,000 - and their families - a year.
According to Wikipedia:
Head Start provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. It is the oldest and largest program of its kind. The program's services and resources are designed to foster stable family relationships, enhance children's physical and emotional well-being, and establish an environment to develop strong cognitive skills.
Study after study shows that Head Start helps kids and their families:
A 2020 study found that cohorts that attended Head Start had higher incomes and years of education as adults than similar children who did not attend. A 2021 study found that the children exposed to more generous Head Start funding had substantially improved test scores relative to children that were not exposed to generous Head Start funding. Another 2021 study found that students enrolled in Head Start ended up having substantially higher high school completion, college enrollment and college completion rates than comparable children who were not enrolled in Head Start. The authors of the study concluded, "these estimates imply sizable, long-term returns to investments in means-tested, public preschool programs." A 2009 study, which compared siblings, found that those who attended Head Start showed stronger academic performance as shown on test scores for years afterward, were less likely to be diagnosed as learning-disabled, less likely to commit crime, more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, and less likely to suffer from poor health as an adult. This study was replicated in a 2020 study which looked at 10 additional birth cohorts, and found a negligible impact.
A 2022 study found that Head Start increased the employment and earnings of single mothers.
In 2015, CCR Analytics, formerly Child Care Analytics, published the results of their Family Outcomes Survey completed by nearly 11,600 California Head Start and Early Head Start parents. 90% of parents surveyed said that Head Start helped them to get or keep a job. 92% of parents surveyed said that Head Start helped them to enroll in an educational or training program. 99% of families surveyed said that Head Start helped them to improve their parenting skills, such as responding to children's misbehavior and helping their children to learn. These results indicate that Head Start has a positive impact on the whole family, beyond the individual children who attend the program.
We can stop Project 2025.
Project 2025 would eliminate a public service that serves more than 800,000 children a year, plus their families. Head Start is an investment that makes hundreds of thousands of people more prosperous, healthier, and happier. Project 2025 would harm hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Learn More:
Project 2025 Would Eliminate Head Start, Severely Restricting Access to Child Care in Rural America
Project 2025 calls for eliminating Head Start, San Antonio Express-News