Months after being on the Trump Administration’s chopping block, the free early child care and education service Head Start celebrates its 60th birthday.
Created under President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, the federal Head Start program provides free preschool and child care services for children ages 3 to 5 from low-income families.
Early Head Start was founded later in the 1990s for infants below age 3.
In May, President Donald Trump proposed cutting $750 million from the Head Start program as a cost-saving measure. The move, experts said, would have left roughly 80,000 fewer children across the country with access to the program, and White House officials eventually backed down.
Family Service, San Antonio’s oldest nonprofit organization, offers education and wraparound services including Head Start and Early Head Start to local families. The group recently celebrated Head Start’s 60th birthday with a resource fair at Northwest Vista College, where eligible families could enroll for the service on the spot.
“We wanted to show how important Head Start is to this community,” said Tasha McMullan, Head Start program manager for Family Service.
Local providers, like the city, nonprofits and some school districts, can apply for federal Head Start grants, locally opening seats. In San Antonio, there are about six Head Start grantees.
Across Bexar County, there are about 7,000 Head Start seats and roughly 3,000 Early Head Start spots offered through different government agencies and local nonprofits. Family Service holds nearly 900 Head Start and roughly 300 Early Head Start spots across 23 locations.
To be eligible for the program, families can qualify for SNAP benefits or meet federal poverty guidelines. Children in foster care and those with disabilities can also enroll.
Jessica White, a certified nursing assistant, was at Friday’s Family Service celebration with her 4-year-old granddaughter Ivy in tow.
Born to White’s then-teenage daughter, Ivy has been enrolled in Head Start almost her whole life, allowing Ivy’s mom to work and take care of her without worrying about the cost of daycare.
“It’s been a great help. It’s helped [my daughter] thrive,” White said. “And getting Ivy started in school — it’s helped her grow as a child.”
Family Service’s education director Sandy Garza said Head Start programs aren’t simply child care providers — they set kids up for academic success using research-based curriculum and employing “degreed” teachers.
If the federal government does implement funding cuts to Head Start, Garza said the local impact would be ”severe” to the early education landscape, as well as workforce development.
McMullan has worked at and managed Head Start programs for almost 30 years, and she’s seen the program go through many changes, including the implementation of stronger curriculum, the use of assessments and data collection. Children who don’t get strong educational foundations during the early years start falling behind in school by the third grade, McMullan said.
In a world where high school diplomas are often not enough to land high-paying jobs, Family Service president and CEO Mary Garr said getting the ball rolling sooner increases the chances for a student to earn an industry-based credential or college degree.
On Thursday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cut access to Head Start for undocumented immigrants. The same day, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) reintroduced a bill that would make child development and early education jobs eligible to be considered community services under the federal work-study program.
Castro’s bill still needs to be referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce for a hearing.
