Head Start on Chopping Block

Campaign Launched in Santa Barbara County to
Save Program for Low-Income Families that
Trump Administration Is Seeking to ‘Zero Out’

By Nick Welsh | May 1, 2025

**Read more from our Reign of Administrative (T)error cover story.**

March’s Women’s Day March in Santa Barbara | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

The federal Head Start program that provides infants, toddlers, and young children of nearly 600 low-income families in Santa Barbara County with free child care, early education, medical care, and meals has not yet been decapitated, but its head is lodged firmly and snugly on the Trump Administration’s chopping block. Based on a federal budget document leaked earlier this April, the Trump Administration is proposing to “zero out” every dime budgeted for the federal anti-poverty program started in 1965 as part of then President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Those cuts, to be clear, have not yet been voted upon by Congress. But the Trump Administration has already cut funding for five of the regional offices that provide key administrative support services to the sprawling constellation of Head Start campuses across the nation; the office overseeing California and Santa Barbara County was among the five to get the ax effective April 1. As with many such announcements, there was no advance notice.

“Nothing has happened yet,” cautioned Julie Weiner, senior administrator with Head Start in Santa Barbara County. “No vote has been taken. But a leaked budget document shows the plan is to ‘zero out’ the program entirely.”

If adopted by Congress in budgetary deliberations that begin this week, that translates into a $12 billion cut that will impact 800,000 families nationwide. Head Start provides free service to families making less than the federal poverty level. For a family of three, that’s $26,000 a year. In Santa Barbara County, Weiner said, 79 percent of the Head Start families are run by single-family households.

“I can tell you there simply are not 600 open childcare slots in the county or anything close, let alone slots that these families can remotely afford,” she added. “Statewide, we’re experiencing a childcare crisis.” If Head Start is cut, Weiner predicted, many smaller businesses will experience serious collateral damage. “A lot of people in our service economy can only work because of Head Start. If they don’t have child care, a lot of parents won’t be able to work. That will affect businesses.”

In the meantime, Weiner is mobilizing parents and staff from the program’s 20 campuses throughout Santa Barbara County and community supporters to join in the organized outreach campaign Head Start has launched — “Save Head Start S.B.” — targeting a handful of Republican Congressmembers from California. Last year, 33 Republicans signed onto a letter asking the House Appropriations Committee to fund Head Start at the highest level possible. This year, however, no Republicans signed a letter of support for Head Start launched by House Democrats, such as Santa Barbara’s Salud Carbajal. Carbajal, it turns out, worked for Head Start in a prior incarnation before embarking on a life in politics. This week, parent advocacy groups and a coalition of Head Start providers also filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to stop the Trump dministration’s dismantling of Head Start.

While Trump has not weighed in on the matter, Russell Vought, his administrator in charge of the Office of Management and Budget, authored the draft budget document that was leaked on April 11. Vaught also worked on the committee that drafted the Project 2025 document calling for the complete elimination of Head Start. Vaught and critics of the program have claimed it is rife with scandal and abuse, that its benefits have been overstated by supporters, and that the federal government has no businesses getting involved in educational initiatives that should be left to the purview of state governments.

Over the years, Head Start has been the subject of numerous long-term studies showing that students enrolled in Head Start typically enjoy high educational achievement afterward because they’ve been prepared. Some studies suggest those benefits fade over time. But a study released by James Heckman, a Nobel Laureate economist with the University of Chicago, concluded that for every federal dollar spent on the program, the U.S. reaps a return of investment from $7 to $9.