H.R. 5774

119th CONGRESS 1st Session

To amend the Head Start Act to protect Head Start from proposals to eliminate the program and restore the Head Start program’s regional offices, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES · October 17, 2025 · Sponsor: Ms. Leger Fernandez · Committee: Committee on Education and Workforce

Table of contents

• H.R. 5774
  • SEC. 1. Short title
  • SEC. 2. Findings
  • SEC. 3. Amendment to the Head Start Act

SEC. 1. Short title

• This Act may be cited as the Every Child Deserves a Head Start Act of 2025.

SEC. 2. Findings

• The Congress finds that the Head Start program—
  • is an important program that has existed since 1965 to ensure eligible children receive an opportunity to enhance their cognitive, social, and emotional development; and
  • has retained broad bipartisan Congressional support because it serves children in every congressional district by—
    • creating a learning environment that supports children’s growth in language, literacy, mathematics, science, social and emotional functioning, creative arts, physical skills, and approaches to learning; and
    • providing to eligible children and their families health, educational, nutritional, social, and other services that are determined, based on family needs assessments, to be necessary.

SEC. 3. Amendment to the Head Start Act

• The Head Start Act () is amended by inserting after section 640 the following: 42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.
  • (a) Establishment
    • There is hereby established the Office of Head Start of the Administration for Children and Families, or any successor agency, of the Department of Health and Human services, including the central office and 12 regional offices, that operated in the Office of Head Start immediately before January 20, 2025.
  • (b) Structure, staffing, and functions of the office of Head Start
    • The Office of Head Start established in subsection (a) shall—
      • reinstate or retain the internal organizational structure in place at the Office of Head Start immediately before January 20, 2025;
      • ensure the Office of Head Start meets and sustains full-time equivalent staffing levels of personnel that are not less than the personnel staffing levels of the Office of Head Start immediately before January 20, 2025; and
      • carry out the functions of the Office of Head Start, including the overall direction, policy, budget planning and development, and administration and oversight of Head Start program operations authorized under the Head Start Act, immediately before January 20, 2025.
  • (c) Structure, functions, and staffing of the regional offices
    • Each regional office established under subsection (a) shall be—
      • headed by a Regional Program Manager who reports to the Director of the Program Operations Division, and be organized consistent with the organizational structure in place immediately before January 20, 2025, with—
        • regions I through X, located in the 10 ACF geographical regions, focusing primarily on grants operating in their respective regions;
        • region XI, located at the Office of Head Start central office, focusing primarily on American Indian and Alaskan Native Head Start grants; and
        • region XII, located at the Office of Head Start central office, focusing primarily on Migrant and Seasonal Head Start grants for agencies that serve the children and families of migrant and seasonal farm workers;
      • responsible for the same functions as they were before January 20, 2025, including—
        • administering funding, ongoing oversight and monitoring, and training and technical assistance to the grant recipient agencies that provide services to Head Start children and families; and
        • providing ongoing management of Regional Head Start program operations, including State Collaboration grants, and liaising within each Region to the Office of Child Care and the Office of Grants Management; and
      • staffed at full-time equivalent personnel levels that are not less than the full-time equivalent personnel levels in place in each regional office immediately before January 20, 2025.
  • (d) Limitations on authority To restructure the office of Head Start, including the central office and 12 regional offices, and To reduce the workforce
    • The Secretary of Health and Human Services may not—
      • modify the structure, functions, or responsibilities for the Office of Head Start and its staff, including the central office and 12 regional offices; or
      • reduce the full-time equivalent employment levels established under this section for the Office of Head Start, including within the central office and 12 regional offices, established in subsection (a), subject to the availability of funds.
  • (e) Notice
    • Not later than 60 days before the Secretary of Health and Human Services submits to the President a plan under which the Secretary proposes to take an action that is subject to a limitation under subsection (d), the Secretary shall—
      • transmit such plan to the Committee on Education and Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and
      • make available to the public a copy of such plan and a justification that supports taking such action, and an explanation of how the Office of Head Start will support Head Start agencies that could be affected by such action.