Sponsors (12)
Official title: Amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include child development and early learning as community services under the Federal work-study program, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 25, 2025 by Kirsten Gillibrand · Last progress June 25, 2025
The bill expands allowed Federal work‑study placements into Head Start/Early Head Start to give students paid experience and add staff capacity for programs, but it also creates new compliance burdens and limits how much work‑study students can substitute for paid staff—potentially raising costs and producing limited near‑term gains in child‑to‑adult attention.
Students in Federal work‑study programs can gain paid, supervised experience working in Head Start and Early Head Start, increasing work‑based learning and job opportunities for postsecondary students.
Children from low‑income families and Head Start programs may get additional paid staffing capacity and program support as campuses place more work‑study students, reducing reliance on unpaid volunteers and increasing program flexibility.
Colleges, universities, and community Head Start partners gain clearer pathways to place work‑study students in early‑childhood roles, strengthening school‑community ties and institutional partnerships.
Head Start programs and postsecondary institutions face increased administrative and compliance burdens (legal assurances, personnel policies, pre‑employment checks), which raises costs and may lead some programs or schools to limit participation.
Work‑study students cannot be left alone with children and do not count toward staff‑to‑child ratios, limiting their usefulness and potentially forcing programs to hire more full‑time staff, increasing program and taxpayer costs.
Expanding allowable placements into Head Start could divert limited work‑study slots away from other high‑need campus jobs (e.g., libraries, tutoring), reducing employment options for some students.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Allows Federal Work-Study placements in Head Start and Early Head Start by expanding eligible activities and adding Head Start compliance rules for work-study students.
Expands the Federal Work-Study program to allow students to perform child development and early learning work, explicitly including Head Start and Early Head Start. It requires Head Start/Early Head Start employers who hire work-study students to follow specified Head Start pre-employment rules and personnel policies, and clarifies that work-study students are paid additional staff who cannot be left alone with children or counted in staff-to-child ratios. The bill makes matching changes in the Higher Education Act to replace a narrower “literacy training” category with a broader “child development and early learning” category that names Head Start and Early Head Start, and it adds required assurances from grantees about compliance with the Head Start Act when using work-study students.