Proposed Federal Changes to Head Start

On August 6, 2026, the Trump administration announced a proposed rescission and replacement of the Head Start Program Performance Standards, last revised in 2024. The following day, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) outlining the proposed changes, many of which defer to state governance and grant authority to local programs and parents. Because this is a proposed rule, it will remain open for public comment for 60 days until October 6, 2026. HHS must review comments and issue a fi nal rule before anything changes, a process NPR reports could realistically take six months to a year. In Massachusetts, where 28 Head Start and Early Head Start grantee agencies serve more than 11,500 children statewide, the proposal touches nearly every part of how these programs currently operate.