Every Child Deserves a Head Start Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5774 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5774

  To amend the Head Start Act to protect Head Start from proposals to 
  eliminate the program and restore the Head Start program's regional 
                    offices, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 17, 2025

     Ms. Leger Fernandez (for herself, Mrs. Hayes, and Mr. Carson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        Education and Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Head Start Act to protect Head Start from proposals to 
  eliminate the program and restore the Head Start program's regional 
                    offices, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Every Child Deserves a Head Start 
Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that the Head Start program--
            (1) is an important program that has existed since 1965 to 
        ensure eligible children receive an opportunity to enhance 
        their cognitive, social, and emotional development; and
            (2) has retained broad bipartisan Congressional support 
        because it serves children in every congressional district by--
                    (A) creating a learning environment that supports 
                children's growth in language, literacy, mathematics, 
                science, social and emotional functioning, creative 
                arts, physical skills, and approaches to learning; and
                    (B) providing to eligible children and their 
                families health, educational, nutritional, social, and 
                other services that are determined, based on family 
                needs assessments, to be necessary.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE HEAD START ACT.

    The Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.) is amended by inserting 
after section 640 the following:

``SEC. 640A. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF HEAD START.

    ``(a) Establishment.--There is hereby established the Office of 
Head Start of the Administration for Children and Families, or any 
successor agency, of the Department of Health and Human services, 
including the central office and 12 regional offices, that operated in 
the Office of Head Start immediately before January 20, 2025.
    ``(b) Structure, Staffing, and Functions of the Office of Head 
Start.--The Office of Head Start established in subsection (a) shall--
            ``(1) reinstate or retain the internal organizational 
        structure in place at the Office of Head Start immediately 
        before January 20, 2025;
            ``(2) ensure the Office of Head Start meets and sustains 
        full-time equivalent staffing levels of personnel that are not 
        less than the personnel staffing levels of the Office of Head 
        Start immediately before January 20, 2025; and
            ``(3) carry out the functions of the Office of Head Start, 
        including the overall direction, policy, budget planning and 
        development, and administration and oversight of Head Start 
        program operations authorized under the Head Start Act, 
        immediately before January 20, 2025.
    ``(c) Structure, Functions, and Staffing of the Regional Offices.--
Each regional office established under subsection (a) shall be--
            ``(1) headed by a Regional Program Manager who reports to 
        the Director of the Program Operations Division, and be 
        organized consistent with the organizational structure in place 
        immediately before January 20, 2025, with--
                    ``(A) regions I through X, located in the 10 ACF 
                geographical regions, focusing primarily on grants 
                operating in their respective regions;
                    ``(B) region XI, located at the Office of Head 
                Start central office, focusing primarily on American 
                Indian and Alaskan Native Head Start grants; and
                    ``(C) region XII, located at the Office of Head 
                Start central office, focusing primarily on Migrant and 
                Seasonal Head Start grants for agencies that serve the 
                children and families of migrant and seasonal farm 
                workers;
            ``(2) responsible for the same functions as they were 
        before January 20, 2025, including--
                    ``(A) administering funding, ongoing oversight and 
                monitoring, and training and technical assistance to 
                the grant recipient agencies that provide services to 
                Head Start children and families; and
                    ``(B) providing ongoing management of Regional Head 
                Start program operations, including State Collaboration 
                grants, and liaising within each Region to the Office 
                of Child Care and the Office of Grants Management; and
            ``(3) staffed at full-time equivalent personnel levels that 
        are not less than the full-time equivalent personnel levels in 
        place in each regional office immediately before January 20, 
        2025.
    ``(d) Limitations on Authority To Restructure the Office of Head 
Start, Including the Central Office and 12 Regional Offices, and To 
Reduce the Workforce.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services may 
not--
            ``(1) modify the structure, functions, or responsibilities 
        for the Office of Head Start and its staff, including the 
        central office and 12 regional offices; or
            ``(2) reduce the full-time equivalent employment levels 
        established under this section for the Office of Head Start, 
        including within the central office and 12 regional offices, 
        established in subsection (a), subject to the availability of 
        funds.
    ``(e) Notice.--Not later than 60 days before the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services submits to the President a plan under which 
the Secretary proposes to take an action that is subject to a 
limitation under subsection (d), the Secretary shall--
            ``(1) transmit such plan to the Committee on Education and 
        Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
        Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and
            ``(2) make available to the public a copy of such plan and 
        a justification that supports taking such action, and an 
        explanation of how the Office of Head Start will support Head 
        Start agencies that could be affected by such action.''.
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