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The proposal would eliminate federal guidelines that keep kids that exhibit behaviors like Xavier’s from being removed from Head Start programs. Instead of receiving the help he needed to self-regulate, the little boy could have been told to leave and his mother, Joanna, left scrambling for alternative care.

The family happens to live in Illinois, which has its own regulations against imposing exclusionary discipline on preschoolers, but other states, such as South Carolina and Florida, do not. The updated Head Start rules would instead ask providers to make their own discipline policies by following state and local licensing requirements. 

Program leaders, advocates and experts fear Head Start students and families in these places could experience a harsh and more punitive reality moving forward. Suspensions and expulsions are associated with negative short- and long-term including lower educational achievement, decreased likelihood of graduating high school and depression. 

鈥淚f the state of Florida doesn鈥檛 have standards related to suspension and expulsion, and that鈥檚 what the administration wants us to go by 鈥� I think as a country we should all be very concerned that we鈥檙e taking our most vulnerable children and families and potentially putting them in an environment where they鈥檙e going to have no protections,鈥� said Wanda Minick, executive director of the Florida Head Start Association. 

Only 14 states and Washington, D.C., have laws or policies that align with Head Start鈥檚 rules around exclusionary discipline, according to of legislation and how states implement federal grants, the primary childcare funding source for low-income, working families.  

Of those, researchers at the Children鈥檚 Equity Project at Arizona State University found, only around half the laws appear to apply to all children under 5, the population served by Head Start. And only in one, Minnesota, do the regulations explicitly include Head Start programs. That means that in 70% of states, Head Start students would be left with fewer guardrails should the rule change pass.

Children with nowhere to go

Many of the states with lax or no laws end up removing the most preschoolers from their classrooms, while states with tighter regulations suspend far fewer, according to an analysis of by 社区黑料 and The Associated Press. The data captures suspensions for prekindergartners who are enrolled in public school districts. 

South Carolina reported suspending 604 public preschoolers a total of 1,181 times that year, while Minnesota reported zero students suspended. Florida reported expelling 466 public preschoolers, more than any other state.

Only of Head Start programs are housed in public schools, so the numbers of suspended preschoolers are predominantly from non-Head Start programs that don鈥檛 have federal protections.

Ultimately, the data shows, a shift in federal policy would mean that whether or not Head Start students remain shielded from expulsion and suspension may depend on where they live. A 60-day public on the rule change is currently open and runs through Oct. 6. 

The Trump administration is attempting to roll back these discipline safeguards along with many of the tools that prevent behaviors from escalating in the first place, advocates said. These include lower adult-to-child ratios; a required number of monthly mental health consultations; timely developmental screenings that ensure at-risk kids are identified early for extra support; and staff breaks. All of this comes after repeated threats to the program since the start of the second Trump administration.

In this environment, 鈥渋f they were to make it permissible to either reject kids or throw them out, I think a lot of teachers would, because they’re just feeling so much strain,鈥� said Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start. 鈥淭hey don’t want to 鈥� and I don’t think that would be the majority 鈥� but I think it could lead to some of those kids being excluded.鈥�

Head Start, I would argue, in most cases, is a rare glimmer of where there's both the rule and the resources. And I think what we're going to see here is a pulling back of both.

Natalie Renew, executive director, Home Grow

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told 社区黑料 last week that the proposed rule 鈥渨ould provide greater flexibility to Head Start programs and does not mandate changes to their current practices.鈥� Individual programs 鈥渕ay continue to follow their existing standards and disciplinary practices if those approaches work for the children and families they serve,鈥� they added.  

Natalie Renew, executive director of , a national initiative focused on quality and access to home-based childcare, said that while having rules on the books that prevent expulsion is key, the more important part is ensuring providers have the resources they need to meet those rules.

 鈥淗ead Start, I would argue, in most cases, is a rare glimmer of where there’s both the rule and the resources,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I think what we’re going to see here is a pulling back of both.鈥�

She, and others, also noted that for many families, Head Start can be a program of last resort, because it is one of the few places where kids displaying challenging behaviors are largely guaranteed support, rather than exclusion. 

鈥淭his issue of suspension and expulsion 鈥� and some of the other financial implications 鈥� are going to mean that a lot of the children who can’t be served elsewhere will have nowhere,鈥� she said.

Suspension a last resort for Head Start students

Expulsion is currently within Head Start, which serves nearly predominantly low-income kids and their families. Temporary suspensions can only be used in extreme circumstances and as a last resort, after programs have attempted a series of other tiered interventions, including collaborating with parents, meeting with a mental health consultant and turning to community resources, such as behavior coaches or psychologists. In the rare circumstances where kids are suspended, programs have to set up home visits and explore a referral for special education services.

Preschoolers who are forced out  鈥渄on’t just magically vanish or magically get cured,鈥� said Walter Gilliam, executive director of the at the University of Nebraska. 鈥淭hey just get passed around from program to program to program, and that’s not good for the children, nor is it good for the programs.鈥�

While limited data exists around exclusionary discipline for kids before they reach kindergarten, in 2005, Gilliam, then at the , found that the preschool expulsion rate was that of K-12 schools, with the highest rates for older preschoolers and Black preschoolers. Boys were 4.5 times more likely to be expelled than girls.

He that the lowest rates of expulsion were reported by teachers who had an ongoing, regular relationship with a behavioral consultant. In classrooms where teachers lacked that collaboration, students were expelled about twice as frequently.

A newer 2021 released by the Office for Civil Rights found 2,822 public preschoolers received one or more out-of-school suspensions, with Black children being overrepresented, making up 18% of all students and 43% of suspensions. Those rates were also disproportionately high for American Indian and Alaskan Native students. That same year, 306 preschoolers were expelled, with Black students and those with disabilities receiving the harshest punishments. 

It is hard for Isitt, the Illinois mom, to imagine the impact suspension would have had on Xavier. 

鈥淗e loves coming to school, he loves seeing his friends,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd if he were to get kicked out for biting I don鈥檛 think he would understand. He would ask, 鈥楳ommy, why aren鈥檛 we going to school?鈥欌�� 

Not only would he lose out on a high-quality classroom environment and critical resources, his mom would be left with few places to turn. Without much family nearby to rely on, she said she鈥檇 be asking, 鈥淲here is Xavier going?鈥�

AP data reporter Sharon Lurye contributed reporting

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