PHOENIX — Early childhood education advocates and some Arizona state officials are raising concerns over proposed changes to the Head Start program.
Head Start is a federal program that provides low-income families with access to early education and support for a child's well-being.
The federal government says its proposed overhaul will cut red tape, save more than $2 billion and open more than 230,000 slots for families.
But Eve DelReal, president of the Arizona Head Start Association, says the program's quality could suffer.
"While it's providing this opportunity for us to serve more, what it's also not acknowledging is that while doing that, we're also reducing the number of staff, which makes it very challenging to deliver this level of quality and individualized learning," DelReal said.
DelReal says the proposal would also affect care for kids with disabilities, require English-only learning and put caps on educators' pay.
"You don't see that within the school district setting, so why would we promote that though in early education? It doesn't make sense," DelReal said.
Clarissa Tudela, an educator at Educare, also expressed some concerns.
"Coming from a teacher perspective, a classroom perspective, it's just worrisome," Tudela said. "The changes, even though they seem like they're going to benefit us, I don't believe it."
State leaders are pushing back as well. Governor Katie Hobbs has previously opposed cuts to Head Start, and Attorney General Kris Mayes signed a letter with other attorneys general against the proposals.
Public comment ended last week. The National Head Start Association says more than 40,000 people weighed in, and officials must review every comment before anything happens. When a decision will come is currently unclear.
