Trump Administration’s New Head Start Rules Would Damage Minnesota’s Childcare Ecosystem

SAINT PAUL — August 7, 2025 — The following statement is from Kids Count on Us Regarding the Trump Administration’s new proposed rules affecting Head Start:

“For over 60 years, Head Start has enjoyed bipartisan support for its great success as an anti-poverty early childhood program reaching hundreds of thousands of children and families every year. The Trump administration however, released this week a plan to eliminate most of the vital learning, health, and safety standards that contribute to Head Start’s success.

This comes as no surprise as Project 2025 clearly outlines a plan to abolish Head Start. Having encountered pushback when they tried to remove Head Start from the budget in 2025, the administration is now pursuing the strategy of slicing away at the program to destabilize it. Make no mistake that the goal remains the same–ultimate failure and elimination, it’s just a different route.

The Trump administration is eager to eliminate Head Start because it works incredibly well and there is no greater threat to an authoritarian government than well-educated people. 

In Minnesota, Head Start is a vital piece of our childcare ecosystem. “I was a Head Start kid, my kids were Head Start kids, and now I serve Head Start families at my childcare center. Head Start enables parents to go to school, get to work, own their own businesses, and employ the next generation of workers. It is blue collar and it is white collar and every child benefits from “Head Start” centers, partnerships and programming,” said Reneé Gravelle Olsen, owner and director of Little B’s Learning Center in Barnum, Minnesota. “If Head Start is gone and childcare program partnerships disappear, childcare as we know it in rural Minnesota disappears. That means small towns disappear.”

We call on the Trump administration to stop attacking vital and successful programs like Head Start. Every child, no matter where they live, what they look like, or how much money their family makes, deserves a head start.”