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Louisville Head Start providers are breathing a sigh of relief after President Donald Trump’s budget proposal released May 2 included funding for the program that provides access to pre-K for hundreds of children from low-income families, but are still wary as other programs surrounding it could face major cuts.

The proposal follows reports that a previous budget blueprint for the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Head Start, excluded funding for the program. The budget Congress ultimately approves for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 will likely be altered from Trump’s proposal as legislators debate spending priorities, but the reversal from proposing to eliminate Head Start funding has pacified some concerns from Louisville directors about the program’s future.

Officials for Family & Children’s Place, the grant recipient for Greater Louisville Head Start that partners with Community Coordinated Child Care (4C) and Shine Early Learning to deliver services, watched closely for updates about whether funding for Head Start would hold.

When Ben Durham, chief operating officer for Family & Children’s Place, got the notification on his phone that the Trump administration had released its budget proposal, he instantly started looking for more information. The news left him with a feeling of “cautious optimism,” he said, as other questions remain to be answered.

“The biggest initial news is good,” he said. “But there are a lot of details around that that still need to be worked out.”

Questions about future of Head Start remain

The organizations that administer Head Start programs in Louisville, Family & Children’s Place and Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, currently receive federal funding to serve more than 800 students combined, according to data provided by the programs. Organizations across Kentucky received more than $200 million for Head Start programs that served about 14,000 students in fiscal year 2024, according to the National Head Start Association.

Head Start programs are funded through five-year grant cycles with annual budgets that usually include cost-of-living adjustments, Durham said. Greater Louisville Head Start’s current budget is $8.1 million, including $7.1 million in federal funding and a mandatory nonfederal match, he said.

It’s unclear whether those cost-of-living adjustments, which have impacts on employee wages and delivery of services, will continue, Durham said.

The news also comes after HHS shuttered five of Head Start’s 10 regional offices that oversee grants and support local Head Start providers, making it more difficult for Greater Louisville Head Start to work with its regional office, Durham said. The closures have also prompted the Office of Head Start to temporarily restructure which territories regional offices serve, he said.

“We’ll be working now with folks in Dallas instead of in Atlanta. So there will be some change for us there administratively that we don’t quite know,” Durham said.

While Trump’s proposal doesn’t end Head Start funding, it does cut $33 billion from HHS, USA TODAY reported. Those cuts could have dangerous implications for the families Head Start serves, National Head Start Association Executive Director Yasmina Vinci said in a statement following the proposal.

“The proposed deep cuts to non-defense discretionary programs — many of which Head Start families depend on — pose a serious threat to the strength and stability of these essential services,” she wrote. “We will continue our efforts until there is clear assurance that Head Start and its related services are fully protected in FY26 and beyond.”

Local Head Start provider reassured by inclusion

Head Start takes a holistic approach to preschool, providing educational, health and nutritional services to support school-readiness and overall well-being, along with parental supports aimed at uplifting entire families, said Roni Witherspoon, director of Greater Louisville Head Start. Continuing to serve children and families is what Witherspoon has kept top of mind amid the uncertainty.

“The focus has remained, from us and with the families, just on getting those kiddos the educational support that they need,” Witherspoon said.

Prior to the Trump proposal’s inclusion of Head Start funding, Durham said the proposed cuts presented an opportunity to amplify conversations about why Head Start matters and prevent it from being “reduced to dollars in a budget.”

“There was an aspect of relief to that not being included, but I think even more than that may be affirmation of the importance of it,” he said. “It’s an incredibly impactful program.”

The story can be found on The Courier-Journal’s website here.