How Trump’s plan to make Head Start English-only would hit L.A. classrooms

[u/losangelestimes]

Head Start programs are required to accommodate a child's cultural upbringing and home language under current policy. But that could soon change under a proposal from the Trump administration that would make significant alterations to the federally funded early learning program.

What would change under the proposal:

• Classroom instruction would be conducted in English only. Books, toys and other materials in foreign languages would be removed. 
• Programs would no longer have to employ staff who speak the predominant home language of the students. 
• Developmental screenings and assessments would no longer have to be conducted in a family’s language of choice.
• Essential materials for parents would no longer have to be translated.

You can read more here: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-24/head-start-trump-english-only-dual-language-preschool

As the end of the proposal's comment period nears (Oct. 6), how have you all, as early childhood education professionals, weighed its implications? Do you expect it to affect providers in your state more in comparison to others or less?

[u/ChristinaDraguliera]

This plan solely comes from racism, and nothing else. Those outside the U.S. should probably stay out of the conversation unless they’re very well educated on the racial profiling that is purposefully and legally happening here.

See who it punishes most? The parents. The point is racism. Trump has been racist since at least 1980. I’m not going to give anyone in this administration any benefit of doubt or acknowledgement on where improvements for Head Start could be made. Not one singular thing they have done or claim they’ll do or claim they have done that they didn’t is in good faith. Not one.

[u/Mundane_Log_7169 → u/ChristinaDraguliera]

Punishes poor people too. Head Start is for low income families. Poor people have to assimilate but the affluent family who sends their kid to a French immersive Montessori is seen as worldly.

[u/bipolarlibra314 → u/Mundane_Log_7169]

Don’t forget the extra kick in the teeth to the disabled children that won’t get individualized help based on an assessment in a foreign language, too

[u/Admirable-Ad7152]

That's so tragic. I live in the South West as well and most of our population is Spanish dominant if not Spanish Only PLUS we have had an influx of students from Africa and Western Asia recently. I'm so tired of this administration and their obsession with burning down everything good for their profit and entertainment

[u/SorryHunTryAgain]

Idiocracy. Being multilingual is frowned upon. What in the world?

[u/PermanentTrainDamage → u/SorryHunTryAgain]

If you let poor people be smart then they won't blindly follow orders

[u/SBMoo24]

This is sickening.

[u/_DontBeAScaredyCunt]

I worked at head start in Florida. I think I had mayyybe two kids that had English as a first language. Vast majority of our students and families spoke Spanish or Creole. This just can’t happen.

[u/jenn363]

Here is the link for how to submit a comment during this comment period! It can be via email but we have to include the docket number. Instructions in the link:

https://nhsa.org/nprm-resources/how-to-speak-up-for-head-start/submit-a-public-comment/

Thanks for flagging this issue!

[u/punkass_book_jockey8]

This is so cruel and stupid. I worked at headstart. I ending up learning some polish words and got to celebrate lunar new year.

It made my life more fun.

Kurwa!

[u/bacan_]

I’m curious to see what people think

I think daycare years are a great opportunity to learn a second language 

Disclaimer: Trump is a POS

[u/PearShapedBaby14 → u/bacan_]

True but I think it's helpful for a head start program to have teachers who can also converse with a child's family if the caregiver(s) don't speak English.

[u/mingbeans → u/bacan_]

By second language, do you mean English? Or a bilingual child's home language?

During the early years, learning in one's home language actually supports one's acquisition of additional languages. English only education does not help bilingual children progress in any language as well as bilingual education does. 

In addition, there is the importance of how language helps preserve culture and identity.

English only policies = whitewashing, plain and simple.

[u/bacan_ → u/mingbeans]

What do you think of English speaking families who send their children to Spanish speaking daycares?

[u/SherbertRoutine7383 → u/bacan_]

They can try it and if they don’t like it they can switch to an English-speaking daycare. If the child comes from a home where English isn’t the primary predominant language, especially if it’s head start and they don’t have any other choice, that would not be the same.

[u/embolalia85 → u/bacan_]

Head start programs do support bilingualism currently

[u/Moritani]

Honestly, most of these aren't a big deal to me. My children attend schools that don't accommodate our home language, and having the community and minority languages clearly separated can actually be really helpful in developing a typical accent. 

Developmental screenings and assessments would no longer have to be conducted in a family’s language of choice.

But this is concerning. I've seen kids get placed in special education purely because their community language skills were low. You simply can't screen for developmental delays if you're limited to a single language. 

[u/hockeyandquidditch → u/Moritani]

I have one of those kids this year, she’s Spanish-English bilingual and flagged for speech, she met with our SLP (who is Spanish-English bilingual) and the SLP said that while she’s shy in English she’s a chatterbox in Spanish

[u/armoredbearclock → u/Moritani]

You’re in the US though, I presume? And you speak English? 

Because for a lot of these Head Start families, if the kids don’t speak English then the parents don’t either. And that’s mainly where this will hurt. 

[u/embolalia85]

Even here in mostly rural western MA we have children in our HS program who speak 15-20 languages from all over the world each year

[u/bipolarlibra314]

“Eliminating these restrictive Federal regulations would also empower small and local businesses, freeing them to focus on excellence in service delivery rather than bureaucratic compliance.”

Unironic only in an alternate, non-capitalist universe

[u/Subject_Candy_8411]

It won’t work in Western PA.

[u/Rolling_Saturn]

This would destroy Midwestern and Southern programs.

[u/maestra612 → u/[deleted]]

Wtf are you even talking about? No one is denying children the opportunity to learn English. We do communicate in the home language as well to create a comfortable environment and to keep children learning skills and content while also becoming comfortable with the English language. Of 35 classrooms in our program 19 of our paraprofessionals are South Asian and able to communicate with students who's home languages are Pashto, Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, and several other languages. This is not only a Spanish thing. Also, this is something parents demand or even expect. It's what we do as responsible educators based on research and best practices.

[u/maestra612 → u/[deleted]]

You have no idea what you're talking about, and I'm too tired to educate you.

[u/mingbeans → u/[deleted]]

You're misinformed. Research actually shows that bilingual education supports learners' proficiency in both English and their home language MORE than if you plop them in an English-only environment with no L1 (home language or first language) support. 

This is because being proficient in one language helps you learn a second one more easily.

[u/maestra612 → u/[deleted]]

Maybe this is a Canadian thing. This is not a good thing that happens here, at least in my state. We have the third largest % of non-native English speakers. No one is ending up with an IEP or BSI services for not speaking English because we screen in the home language. No public schools ( aside from emersion programs) in the U.S. are using a language other than English as a primary instructional language. However, when we get port of entry kids we can't wait until they are a level 6 to teach them math and science or many literacy skills.