The Trump administration is ending efforts to boost pay and benefits for Head Start employees, according to a final rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services scheduled to be published Monday. Those efforts would have seen most Head Start teachers earn an additional $10,000 in annual salaries to align with pay for other public preschool educators.
The final rule reverses a 2024 Biden-era rule that supporters said would have helped Head Start early childhood education programs recruit and retain qualified staff and provide consistent quality programming for children and families. The 2024 rule for increased wages and benefits would have been fully implemented in 2031.
Instead, the final rule set to publish on Monday removes those requirements, calling the directive "costly and overly prescriptive for Head Start programs and staff." HHS' Administration for Children and Families, which administers the Head Start program, said its final rule will yield more than $2 billion in cost savings as it restores "greater flexibility to local Head Start programs."
Removing the wage and benefit requirements will prevent the elimination of 106,000 Head Start classroom slots.
Average Head Start teacher salaries range from $26,964 in Mississippi to $79,853 in the District of Columbia, according to a 2024 Urban Institute brief.
The change is just one part of a broader, ongoing effort by the Trump administration to overhaul the Head Start program.
The National Head Start Association, a nonprofit organization that represents Head Start families, providers and educators, said in a Friday statement that underfunding is straining the program's ability to pay staff competitively while maintaining student enrollment levels.
NHSA also said that removing federal wage and benefit requirements "does not change competitive pressures or eliminate the staffing shortages that continue to limit some programs' ability to open classrooms and serve more eligible children and families."
NHSA Executive Director Yasmina Vinci said in a statement, "A strong Head Start program depends on a stable, qualified workforce, and programs must have the resources necessary to recruit, retain, and support the professionals who serve children and families every day."
In a statement responding to the final rule, the National Association for the Education of Young Children said, "HHS frames this as a choice between paying educators and serving children, but a funded slot without a qualified teacher serves no one."
The final rule is to take effect 60 days after publication.
