The Arc is opposing proposed changes to Head Start standards that could weaken inclusion and support for children with disabilities and their families.

For generations, Head Start has helped families access early learning, developmental supports, health services, and other resources during some of the most important years of a child’s life. For children with disabilities, Head Start has played an especially important role. Its federal performance standards help turn the promise of inclusion into everyday practice by setting expectations for how programs identify developmental concerns, connect children to services, support families, and include children with disabilities in the full Head Start experience.

Now, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is proposing sweeping changes to those standards. The proposed rule, Reducing Federal Burden for Head Start Programs, would eliminate or scale back many detailed federal requirements and give states and local programs more discretion over how Head Start services are delivered.

Head Start’s performance standards give programs specific responsibilities for supporting children with disabilities and give families expectations about what Head Start should provide. Without them, more could depend on what a local program knows about disability, what resources it has, and how successfully a family can navigate complicated education and disability systems.

How Could the Head Start Changes Affect Children With Disabilities?

The proposed changes would remove several federal requirements that help children with disabilities participate in and benefit from Head Start.

Programs would no longer be required to:

• Provide developmental assessments to every child.
• Make accommodations so children with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of the Head Start program.
• Follow the current directive that children can’t be turned away because of a disability or chronic health condition.
• Follow federal guardrails on temporary suspensions or the current prohibition on expulsion.
• Support parents as they navigate the IEP process.

Federal disability laws would still apply, but the proposed rule changes how Head Start programs would be required to put those laws into practice. Current performance standards require Head Start programs and school districts to spell out who will evaluate a child for IDEA eligibility, how services will be delivered in the Head Start program, and how the agencies involved will work together. Without those requirements, programs may still have the same legal obligations, but families could have less certainty about how those rights will actually be carried out for their child.

Why Are Disability and Civil Rights Groups Opposing the Head Start Proposal?

The Arc of the United States has joined leading civil rights and disability organizations in calling on the administration to withdraw the proposed rule.

The coalition warns that eliminating Head Start’s federal standards could particularly harm children with disabilities and other children who already face barriers to early learning.

As the organizations wrote in the joint statement:

“These quality standards are the hallmark of the Head Start program that ensure every child receives an early education and services that promote healthy child development. Without them, Head Start will exist in name only, offering unequal services based on where the child lives. If finalized, these changes would mean that a child could be turned away from Head Start because of a disability or because a child is struggling. The proposal would also make it more difficult for families experiencing homelessness to enroll, and would remove prohibitions on corporal punishment, seclusion, and expulsion. This proposed rule would fundamentally alter Head Start and break the promise that America has made good on for decades to offer the children born furthest from opportunity with the best our country has to offer in early childhood education.”

The joint statement was signed by:

• Children’s Defense Fund
• EdTrust
• Legal Defense Fund
• NAACP
• National Center for Learning Disabilities
• National Urban League
• The Arc
• UnidosUS

Read the full joint statement.

How Can I Comment on the Proposed Head Start Changes?

HHS is accepting public comments on the proposed Head Start changes through October 6, 2026. We urge people with disabilities, families, educators, Head Start staff, advocates, and anyone who cares about inclusive early childhood education to weigh in and share why strong Head Start standards are worth protecting.

Submit a public comment by October 6, 2026.

Children with disabilities belong in early learning programs alongside their nondisabled peers. Head Start has helped make that possible for decades. Its standards should continue to protect quality, accountability, and meaningful inclusion for children with disabilities and their families.