The American Union of Civil Liberties, on behalf of six early childhood organizations, including one in California, sued the Trump administration on Monday to stop the dismantling of Head Start and restore cuts to the program, claiming that the actions required the approval of the Congress.
The demand, presented in the Western District of Washington, also claimed that the administration directive to strip the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts program is “unconstitutionally vague”, violates the freedom of expression of their teachers and does not provide sufficient guidance for suppliers to know what should be done to avoid losing federal funds.
Dei's accusations occur days after federal judges blocked a Trump administration directive that threatened to retain federal funds from K-12 public schools that did not comply with their anti-EDEI orientation. The federal judge who made the initial ruling said the administration was not clear in its definition of Dei.
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Head Start serves 800,000 low -income families throughout the country, including around 80,000 in California. The six organizations that joined the demand are: Father Voices Oakland, Family Forward Oregon and Head Start Associations in Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The demand alleges that the changes in the advantage have been made in the “flagrant contravention” of the approval of the financing of the Congress for the program. The Congress action requires that the Department of Health and Human Services keep the head at its current levels of financing and personal and guarantee the current capacity of Head Start, said the demand.
It also alleges that anti-Dei directives compromise the quality of the program by avoiding effectively satisfying the “diverse needs” of their families as dictated by Head Start's law. Head Start requires the ability to provide linguistic and culturally appropriate services and will be allowed to use a diverse staff to ensure that this is the case, read in the demand.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which Finance Head Start, did not respond to a comment application on Monday.
Head Start, which has provided child care, health exams and meals to millions of low -income children since its foundation in 1965, has faced multiple interruptions since the beginning of President Trump's mandate. The centers faced delays in funds after an executive order temporarily freezes federal aid in January, which caused some suppliers to fight the payroll and others are closed temporarily. Then, dozens of Federal Workers of Head Start were fired in February, followed by the closure of five of the 12 regional offices in April, including the office of region 9, which supervises California.
More recently, a filtering draft of the Budget Proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services revealed the proposal of the department to completely disburse the head in 2026. The budget proposal must be approved by Congress.
“We know what the objective of this administration is, they have told us,” said the lawyer of the Acu Women's Right project, Jennesa Calvo-Friedman, who is a main lawyer in the case. “It is to finish the Head Start program. We are seeing that they already take measures to do so.”
Clarissa Doutherd, Executive Director of Voices Oakland parents, said that eliminating the initial head would lead many families to a breakdown.
“We are seeing that families fight with the payment check so it is to establish a better future for their children, and those dreams are sliding through their fingers,” said Doutherd. “It is critical: this comprehensive support system that helps families prosper when providing opportunities for the development of education, health and workforce.”
Head Start has historically received the support of Democrats and Republicans in Congress, although Trump has challenged the program's funds before, although without success. He proposed to cut Head Start funds at $ 85 million in 2018 and $ 29 billion for 10 years in 2019, but none of the proposals succeeded. Instead, program financing increased during both years of budget.
This year, Head Start was scheduled to receive more than $ 12 billion in funds. Only California was scheduled to receive around $ 1.6 billion in subsidies.
The program was recently attacked by the 2025 project, which requested its termination, claiming that it was “full of scandal and abuse” and had “little or no long -term academic value for children.” However, Head Start does not require a particular curriculum and is not the only child care program for low -income families. Research has also shown that it has had a series of positive impacts on children.
This article is part of the Times early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to 5 years. For more information about the initiative and their philanthropic financiers, go to latimes.com/earlyed. Stein's Early Childhood Development Fund at California Community Foundation is among the financiers.
