Trump wants to cut Head Start. In WV, it will eliminate preschool for 8K kids and thousands of jobs.

Samantha Casto, a preschool teacher at Ravenswood Head Start, is making the outdoors her classroom this spring. Her four- and five-year-old students are learning about bug habitats and digging their tiny hands into the dirt.

“It’s not ‘sit down at a desk and learn,’” said Casto, 33. “They get to learn in a fun way.”

Head Start offers free child care, early education, meals and more to thousands of low-income children in West Virginia. There are support services for families, as well. 

Under President Donald Trump, the program could be terminated. 

The Trump administration is asking Congress to eliminate funding for Head Start, which would shutter programs nationwide.

In West Virginia, it would terminate preschool and services for nearly 8,000 children and cut 3,000 jobs. 

“I can’t imagine how West Virginia would fare — our children, families, even our economy … I don’t know how these families would go to work,” said Lori Milam, executive director of the West Virginia Head Start Association. “It would be devastating. It really would.”

Casto has worked at Ravenswood Head Start for 11 years. “I’m devastated and upset,” she said.

The Trump administration has already slashed Head Start staff, closed half the program’s regional offices and delayed funding.

Several states, including Pennsylvania, and advocacy groups are suing the Trump administration over the looming Head Start funding cuts. The lawsuit alleges that the actions already taken against the program, including shuttering its regional offices, required congressional approval.

Milam said West Virginia Head Start is waiting on grant money needed May 1 for programs that serve 1,000 children.

“There’s no communication because of closing the [regional] Head Start offices,” she said. 

A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said in an email, “At this point in time, Sen. Capito is continuing to work with [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] to ensure that West Virginia Head Start centers receive their grant money.”

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., and Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., did not return comments for this story. 

West Virginia’s Head Start programs are solely reliant on federal funding and received $83 million in 2024.

State Sen. Laura Chapman, who chairs the Senate Health Committee, said she would see if the state could fund the program should the federal cuts go through. 

“A cut to Head Start would be devastating, however, I do support the Trump administration’s goals in reducing bureaucracy and administrative costs,” said Chapman, R-Ohio. “If it does happen, I believe that the state should step up and try to fill in the gaps.”

“I support Head Start and our families,” she added.

Head Start closure would worsen state’s child care shortage 

Head Start’s potential closure would worsen the state’s child care shortage. More than 25,000 children in West Virginia don’t have access to child care, and hundreds of child care facilities have closed in the state in the last few years.

Northern Panhandle Head Start serves five counties, including Wetzel County, where there is no licensed child care center. The program partners with five nearby child care centers to provide funds that help pay teachers. 

“Our Head Start [programs] are some of the only available centers that children can go to,” said Jackie Bell, executive director of Northern Panhandle Head Start. “I’m very concerned about the proposed budget cuts. It threatens the stability and the future of our early childhood education.”

“We’re more than a preschool program,” she continued. “It allows [families] to go out and get jobs and work during the day and know their child is taking care of and receiving quality programming.”

Bell said 120 staff will lose their jobs if her Head Start program is forced to close. 

The National Institute for Early Education Research recently ranked West Virginia as fourth in the nation for preschool for four-year-olds, which was influenced by Head Start access statewide.

Head Start also serves a referral program, connecting young children with free services like speech and physical therapy through the Birth to Three program. Milam worries that children, including children in foster care and those with developmental disabilities, will slip through the cracks without screenings and services before they enter kindergarten.

Program employees also made nearly 44,000 home visits last year to check on children and provide in-home support for parents. The service plays a role in preventing children from entering West Virginia’s overburdened foster care system, Bell said.

“One of the unique pieces of our program is the parent education and training side of it,” Bell said, adding that the organization also makes referrals to Child Protective Services when necessary. 

“We’re serving the vulnerable children and families, and that’s what’s really scary about these potential cuts,” she said.

Milam planned on spending this year celebrating Head Start’s 60th anniversary. Now, she is collecting testimonials and calling elected officials in hopes of saving the program. 

“I am still very, very hopeful,” she said.

Savannah Shamblin, 32, is a Head Start teacher at the Fairplain Center in Jackson County. Her students are learning the alphabet, how to spell their names and how to use silverware.

“Whenever that clicks, I get super excited … because I know I’m making a difference, and the kids get excited too,” she said.

Shamblin is worried about her job, but said, “I worry more about the children and families more.”

“We need to continue it for the next 100 years because it’s helping children that really need it,” she said.