NEW HAVEN, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont and Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Elena Trueworthy stood at LULAC Head Start's main office in New Haven on Tuesday, Oct. 6, and called on the federal government to withdraw a proposed rule that would rewrite the standards for Head Start, the early-education program for children from low-income families, the Connecticut Mirror reported. Attorney General William Tong joined other states in a letter against it. Tuesday was the last day for public comment.
"They're making life a lot more burdensome, bureaucratic, expensive and impossible for our working families," Lamont said. "I think it's dead wrong."
What the rule would change
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the proposal in August. According to state leaders and the two news reports, it would raise class-size limits, drop degree requirements for staff, loosen federal standards for teaching, staffing, coaching and professional development, end protections against suspension and expulsion, require classroom instruction in English, make homeless families document that they are homeless, and cut the cap on administrative spending from 15% to 5%.
State leaders said the changes would push costs and duties onto state and local systems and would fall hardest on children with disabilities, homeless families and children learning English. "By gutting these long-term protections, this compromises overall quality and puts children and families and providers at risk," Trueworthy said.
Tong, in a statement reported by WFSB, called the proposal "a cruel and callous insult to educators, parents and children everywhere" and said it should be rescinded. Trueworthy's office filed comments of its own.
Charles Walters, a Head Start parent, said he wants his daughter to get the same care when he is not with her. "That same care is still given. That same protection is still given," he said.
Head Start in Connecticut
Twenty-two Head Start programs in the state served 4,847 children and 46 pregnant women in the 2024-25 school year, according to Office of Early Childhood figures cited by the Mirror. LULAC Head Start serves about 329 children in New Haven and East Haven, its executive director said. Trueworthy said 7.5% of the state's Head Start families are homeless and about 18.5% of children in state programs received a disability diagnosis this year.