Sponsors (33)
Introduced February 20, 2026 by Rashida Tlaib · Last progress February 20, 2026
This bill substantially expands and funds Head Start services, workforce pay, and culturally and clinically targeted supports—improving access and quality for many children and families—but does so at high fiscal cost and with added compliance, administrative, and implementation burdens that could strain smaller providers and create uneven rollouts without careful execution.
Millions of low‑income children and families gain expanded, sustained access to Head Start/Early Head Start through large, multi‑year federal investments (including a $144.9B FY2026 appropriation plus targeted grants for facilities, extended hours, partnerships, and transportation).
Head Start and Early Head Start educators receive materially better pay, benefits, and career supports (a $60,000 minimum salary in FY2026 indexed to CPI, expanded health and leave benefits, wage ladders, loan forgiveness access, and competitive grants for recruitment/retention).
More children get longer, more continuous early‑learning services (year‑round/full‑calendar definitions, expanded full‑day and summer options, community‑school coordination, pilots for communitywide eligibility, and campus Head Start slots), improving childcare availability and school readiness for working families.
Federal taxpayers face substantially higher long‑term costs due to the large new appropriations, automatic inflation adjustments, and multiple multi‑year grant programs included in the bill.
Head Start agencies and local programs will face materially increased administrative, reporting, compliance, and training burdens (new calendar‑year operations, disability documentation, evaluation/ reporting requirements, expanded staffing standards, and multiple grant application processes).
Smaller, rural, under‑resourced, or chronically underenrolled providers (including some tribal or local nonprofits) may struggle to meet new compensation, operating‑hour, and grant‑matching expectations, risking reduced slots, program consolidation, or closures in some communities.
Based on analysis of 30 sections of legislative text.
Overhauls Head Start law: adds mental‑health and UDL standards, requires most centers to offer 1,380+ hours/year, sets minimum staff pay/benefits, creates new grant pilots, and funds programs starting FY2026.
Makes wide-ranging changes to Head Start and Early Head Start law to expand services, set new program standards, require more year-round options, raise staff pay/benefits, create new grant pilots and partnerships, and provide substantial new funding starting in FY2026. It adds mental‑health requirements, universal design for learning, updated terminology and definitions, priorities for Native American language/culture programs, new regional support offices, and several competitive grant programs (workforce rebuilding, campus-based centers for student parents, extended hours, child‑care partnerships, and a community‑eligibility pilot).