As a single mom, Josamarie Faria worried about finding affordable childcare options on Oʻahu that would allow her to work during the day. Her solution came through Head Start, a free, federally funded program providing early learning and support services to pregnant mothers and children from birth through age 5.

Now in his third year of Head Start, Faria’s son has learned his colors, knows his classmates’ names and has developed a good routine at preschool. In addition to supporting her son’s development, Faria said, the program has offered her valuable resources ranging from parenting advice to free diapers when her son was a baby. 

“I am just so grateful because of all the opportunities that opened up for me,” Faria said, “and it took a lot of stress off my plate, especially as a single mom.”

Educators and advocates say Head Start — which served over 2,300 young children and pregnant women in the state last year — sets the gold standard for early education because of strict federal regulations mandating everything from small class sizes to the health and developmental screening programs it provides children. But this could soon change under a set of changes proposed last month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

The proposed rules would remove multiple requirements around efforts to connect families with health resources and identify developmental delays early. Guidelines for staff-to-child ratios would default to state standards — which are often more lax than Head Start mandates. 

The proposal is just the latest attack on Head Start by the current administration, following an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate funding for the program in a budget proposal last year.

“The Trump administration just has a very personal vendetta against the Head Start program,” said U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda. “And now here you have it again, which just feels like death by 1,000 cuts.” 

The public has until early October to comment on the proposed rules. Edward Condon, executive director of the advocacy and assistance group Head Start West, said he expects the federal government will finalize the rules sometime in December and begin implementing them in 2027.

If the changes take effect, programs can choose to maintain the higher standards currently required by Head Start, said Ephraim Schwab, director of the state’s Head Start Collaboration Office. However, he noted that it may be harder for providers to implement those tougher standards without detailed guidance from the federal government. 

“Our programs are very concerned with being a high-quality program in the state. They know that’s what makes them different,” Schwab said. “Every attempt will be made to probably perform at the same level that the Head Start program performance standards required.” 

The Trump administration argues the proposed rules give providers more flexibility and will allow programs to serve more children at lower costs. But early education advocates argue the changes will come at the cost of quality education for kids who need it the most since the program targets children from low-income, homeless or foster care families as well as those with disabilities. 

“I think in any statement that says, ‘We want to serve more kids with the same dollars,’ the rest of that sentence has to say, ‘in a very low-quality way,'” said Shantel Meek, a professor and executive director of the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. “What is going to remain after you take all these pieces out?” 

What’s At Stake

On Oʻahu, parent Skyla Havens said Head Start has helped her with more than just early learning for her two children. Over the past few years, she said, the program has offered her husband resources to study for his GED, encouraged her to seek speech services for her daughter and assessed her children’s motor and communication skills. 

Some advocates worry programs may struggle to provide the same level of individualized care and attention to families moving forward. 

Under the proposed rules, providers would no longer be required to meet specific timelines for screening children for developmental delays or offer certain family engagement activities such as home visits from teachers or parent-teacher conferences. The rules also eliminate programs’ responsibilities to connect families with healthcare and insurance.

Programs would also be required to teach primarily in English and replace books written in other languages, a significant change from Head Start’s traditional stance on promoting bilingualism in its classrooms. 

In Hawaiʻi, programs might employ teachers who speak languages such as Samoan or Chuukese, which are incorporated alongside English instruction, said Ben Naki, executive vice president at Parents and Children Together, one of six local organizations running Head Start programs. 

Last year, 11% of Hawaiʻi children in Head Start had a disability, and roughly a quarter were English learners. Over half of families received parenting resources, instruction in health and nutrition or support transitioning their kids to other early learning programs, according to a recent report from the University of Hawaiʻi.  

There are a lot of unknowns about the proposed rule changes and what might actually take effect, Naki said. But he’s worried the new regulations could reduce the high-quality education that’s become a hallmark of Head Start.

For example, Head Start currently mandates that programs maintain small class sizes and a ratio of four infants and toddlers for every staff member. The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed that Head Start centers follow their state childcare licensing guidelines.

In Hawaiʻi, the infant staffing ratio would stay the same, but the toddler ratio could increase to up to eight children for every staff member, depending on the students’ age, according to a report from the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University.

Small class sizes are particularly important for the population of kids served by Head Start, who may have learning disabilities and need more individualized support in school, said Meek, one of the authors of the report. 

Programs ideally want to maintain the high-quality standards currently set by Head Start, Naki said. But stagnant federal funding, combined with the rising costs, already make it difficult for providers to keep up. In some cases, he said, providers have needed to reduce their enrollment. 

In Hawaiʻi, Head Start enrollment dropped by around 20% from 2018 to 2025. 

As the federal government pushes providers to enroll more kids, Naki said, it might be difficult for providers to justify serving fewer kids to maintain the same level of support to families, especially if these services are no longer required in Head Start regulations. 

“I think it’s a little premature to try and figure out what kind of changes we’ll have to make,” said Naki, who also serves as president of the Head Start Association of Hawaiʻi and the Outer Pacific.  “We’ll have to determine, ‘Can we still afford to do it with the current funding, even if it’s not a requirement?'” 

Fewer Families May Qualify

Some advocates say that fewer services offered through Head Start will shift more costs onto families already struggling with Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living. 

Under the proposed rules, programs could cut back on hours and offer more part-day programs, requiring working families to find other childcare options, Condon said. An analysis from the education nonprofit Start Early projects that Hawaiʻi parents could face an annual increase of $720 in childcare costs if the rules took effect. 

But the numbers seem speculative, said Schwab of the state’s Head Start Collaboration Office, adding that he doesn’t expect local programs to reduce their hours even if the new rules take effect. Families may also be able to pay for before- or after-school care using state tuition subsidies, he said. 

In some cases, fewer families may enroll in programs, since the proposed rules eliminate parents’ ability to self-attest their eligibility for Head Start. This could have the greatest impact on homeless families lacking the documentation to prove their eligibility, Tokuda said. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates 8% of currently enrolled children nationwide would no longer qualify for Head Start under this change. 

“We’re talking about potentially the most vulnerable no longer being eligible for these life-changing programs,” Tokuda said. 

Faria, a Head Start parent, said she’s worried families may struggle to cover additional healthcare costs or return to the workforce if the new rules take effect and programs cut back on their services. But she’s hopeful providers will continue to find ways to support families as the community rallies against the changes.

“I just think that it is going to be very, very tough on the community, the families, the kids, especially, the staff,” she said. “It’s going to hit very hard, but I do believe that there is always a possibility that it’s going to get better.”