Hundreds of Pink Slips Prompt California Lawmakers to Warn of Threats to Head Start

At least 1,000 Head Start teachers and staff members across California have received pink slips due to federal funding uncertainties, according to state lawmakers who warned Tuesday that cuts to the early childhood education program will damage the state’s economy.

Although the Trump administration did not eliminate funding to Head Start in its 2026 budget proposal released last week, teachers, families and advocates are worried about the stability of the program, which uses federal funds to provide educational and other services to low-income families with children up to 5 years old.

Some funding has been delayed since the administration closed several regional offices of the Department of Health and Human Services, including one in San Francisco, and laid off federal workers who support the program.

“I’m really thankful that the president’s budget doesn’t suggest cuts to Head Start, but the administration was discussing entirely eliminating this program, and the administration and Congress are planning massive cuts to the federal government spending, many of which have yet to be detailed,” said Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens (D–Sunnyvale), who noted that some of the Head Start workers who received pink slips are in his Silicon Valley district. 

He was referring to the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s decision to warn employees that their jobs were at risk because the federal government had yet to indicate whether it would reinstate the office’s Head Start grant.

It’s not clear exactly how many employees received pink slips across the state, but the SEIU union locals that represent many Head Start workers in California said about 1,000 of their members have gotten or expect to receive a termination notice.

Meanwhile, more than three-quarters of the Legislature signed a bipartisan letter urging California’s congressional delegation to protect funding for Head Start, Ahrens said. The letter noted that school districts and nonprofits in California receive $1.5 billion in federal funding each year to operate local Head Start programs that serve more than 80,000 children and employ nearly 27,000 people.

“That money supports not only early education and family services, but thousands of jobs, child care providers, bus drivers, cooks, support staff, many of them right here in rural areas where employment opportunities are already limited,” said Assemblymember Heather Hadwick (R–Modoc County), who said cuts to Head Start would devastate the rural communities she represents in far Northern California.

Hadwick said she attended a Head Start center when she was raised by a single mother and called the program “a lifeline” for her family. She said the center was a safe place for her to learn and grow, which gave her mom peace of mind while she worked two jobs to make a living.

“I fully believe that we need to cut our budget and cut waste,” she said. “I just hope that we don’t do that on the backs of our low-income working families and our children.”

Head Start funding is also critical to school districts and other agencies that use it to supplement California State Preschool and other publicly funded child care programs. Cuts to Head Start funds could lead to reduced child care hours for those programs, said Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California, an association of Head Start grant recipients in the state.