{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://katherineclark.house.gov/2026/08/26/boston-globe-an-attack-on-families-and-kids-healey-slams-trumps-proposed-head-start-changes/", "Boston Globe: \u2018An attack on families and kids\u2019: Healey slams Trump\u2019s proposed Head Start changes", "2026-08-26", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Katherine M. Clark", "C001101", "katherineclark.house.gov", "clark", "https://katherineclark.house.gov/newsroom/", "scraper", "Governor Maura Healey criticized the Trump administration\u2019s proposal to scale back regulations for the federally funded Head Start child-care program, calling it \u201creckless and wrongheaded\u201d on Wednesday.\n\nThe rollback would result in more children being turned away from free child care, she said, as well as less well-trained teachers and a reduction in medical screenings, mental health services, and other support for low-income families.\n\n\u201cThis is an attack on families and kids,\u201d she said during a press conference after touring the ABCD Head Start center in Malden Wednesday with other elected officials and early education advocates. \u201cThis seems to be all part of Donald Trump\u2019s plan to destroy education in this country.\u201d\n\nThe proposed changes would do away with previous requirements on class size, health and developmental screenings, and home visits. Bilingual instruction would be eliminated outside of Indigenous communities, program hours could be shortened, and teaching standards for literacy, math, and social and emotional development would be dropped.\n\nHead Start facilities would have to comply with state rules, but there are few comparable state-level requirements, raising concerns that quality will suffer and fewer services will be offered to some of the country\u2019s most vulnerable families.\n\nThe federal Administration for Children and Families said the proposed rule changes would remove regulations that go beyond what the Head Start Act requires and give local providers more latitude. The program would continue to require hearing and vision screenings, family support for health, nutrition, and English proficiency, and other federally mandated provisions.\n\n\u201cBy removing hyper-specific directives on how to meet these requirements gives recipients more flexibility to design comprehensive services best suited to their community\u2019s needs,\u201d the agency said in a statement.\n\nEliminating \u201done-sized-fits-all federal mandates\u201d could save as much as $2.2 billion a year and create 236,000 new slots, it said.\n\n\u201cThey are willing to risk our kids in order to continue to fund the very wealthiest Americans,\u201d said Representative Katherine Clark, who was also at the Malden Head Start Wednesday. \u201cThis is about weakening and watering down a program that serves hundreds of thousands of families across the country every day. \u2026 to free up money for billionaires.\u201d\n\nThe administration had previously tried to freeze funding for Head Start, noting in a White House budget document reviewed by The New York Times that it would help end the \u201cradical indoctrination of our children\u201d in a program \u201criddled with social-emotional learning.\u201d In June, a report by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has advised the Trump administration on past policies, called for the administration to \u201csunset Head Start and deregulate the program until officials end it.\u201d\n\nMassachusetts receives $190 million a year to serve about 10,000 children, in addition to $20 million supplemented by the state each year to boost worker wages, said Michelle Haimowitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Head Start Association.\n\nThis would have a definite impact at the Head Start program in Malden, which has 13 teachers and 10 support staff serving 110 children, said director Georgette Chiasson. The state\u2019s strict student-teacher ratios would protect instructors, she said, but the number of support staff who meet with families and provide health support and other services would have to be cut.\n\nMassachusetts has some of the highest standards for health and safety, said Amy Kershaw, the state\u2019s Early Education and Care commissioner, but Head Start regulations go beyond what the state requires.\n\n\u201cOur health and safety standards can\u2019t replace what the federal government is trying to take away,\u201d she said.\n\nThe state has tried to make up for previous federal cuts to food programs and health care, but it can\u2019t cover everything, Healey said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard with the mounting challenges and the cuts coming out of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress,\u201d she said.\n\nThe comment period for the proposed changes to Head Start lasts until Oct. 6, and Healey urged community members to reach out to the White House to advocate for the program.\n\nCarmen Rondash, a single parent with four children, relied on the Head Start program in Charlestown for help with child care, early-intervention checks, and other resources his family needed.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a really important tool for people like me to change our lives, to empower us, and to let us build ourselves,\u201d said Rondash, who is now on the board of directors for ABCD, one of 28 organizations in the state that administers Head Start programs.\n\nResearch has shown that Head Start increases the likelihood that children will graduate from high school and attend college, but it provides much more than early childhood education, said Sharon Scott-Chandler, president of ABCD.\n\n\u201cA child cannot learn when they are hungry,\u201d she said. \u201cA parent cannot always focus on their child\u2019s education when they are worried about healthcare, housing, food, and their child\u2019s development.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe education and wellbeing of our most vulnerable children are key to the success of Massachusetts.\u201d\n\n\u2014", 1, "2026-08-28T17:11:49Z", "2026-08-28T17:13:14Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://katherineclark.house.gov/2026/08/26/boston-globe-an-attack-on-families-and-kids-healey-slams-trumps-proposed-head-start-changes/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7153530605137348, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}