New Mexico officials, program leaders rebuke proposed Head Start federal rollback

New Mexico’s congressional delegation, Attorney General Raúl Torrez and state program leaders have all denounced the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the Head Start program, which they argue would illegally modify and weaken program services.

Head Start provides early education, meals and family support to nearly 700,000 children and families nationwide. Nearly 8,000 children and families utilize the program in New Mexico, according to the New Mexico Head Start Association.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the “Reducing Federal Burden for Head Start Programs” rule proposal on Aug. 6, which would eliminate federal standards for staff-to-child ratio; require English-only instruction; and lower the cap on administrative spending from 15% to 5%.

In a statement accompanying the publication of the proposed rule, HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., said the agency is “removing unnecessary bureaucracy, strengthening nutrition and physical health, trusting parents and local communities, and opening Head Start to hundreds of thousands more children.” Specifically, the agency projects the rule will preserve or expand up to 236,000 Head Start slots nationwide and save $2.2 billion and shift federal oversight to state programs.

New Mexico’s five-person congressional delegation, all Democrats, signed on to an Oct. 6 letter to Kennedy backed by close to 200 members of Congress that described the proposed rule as “a brazen attempt to dismantle Head Start without regard for the hundreds of thousands of young children and working-class families who depend on these programs and services every year.”

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez also registered opposition to the proposed rule in an Oct. 6 comment addressed to Kennedy and Alex Adams, assistant secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, co-signed by 25 state attorneys general.

“New Mexico is leading this effort because we know firsthand how important Head Start is to our families and communities,” Torrez said in a statement. “We cannot allow Washington to dismantle a program that children, parents and states depend on.”

New Mexico is one of 19 states, the attorneys general wrote, where a substantial reduction in Head Start would increase childcare gaps by 20% or more. Rural communities would be disproportionately affected, they added. 

Dozens of New Mexicans weighed in on the proposal via a public comment portal on Regulations.gov, including Patricia Grovey Evans, president of the Head Start Association of New Mexico.

“We are concerned that eliminating specific implementation standards would weaken consistent service delivery, oversight, and accountability,” Grovey Evans wrote in her comment, adding that the organization opposes the proposal. Grovey Evans could not be reached for comment prior to publication.

Grovey Evans wrote that the current federal ratio and group size protections should remain in place instead of letting states decide on ratios. As an example, New Mexico’s center licensing rules allow a 1-to-6 student-child ratio, while the federal standard is a 1-to-4 student-child ratio — a 50% increase if the proposal is implemented, she wrote.

HHS should retain multilingual instruction efforts and keep the administrative cap at 15%, as the reduction would weaken financial controls, data security and compliance, Grovey Evans wrote. 

“Every child deserves a strong foundation, and every family deserves a program prepared to help build it,” Grovey Evans concluded.