I 
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) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation 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 Representa-
tives 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 op-
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portunity to enhance their cognitive, social, and emo-
tional development; and 
(2) has retained broad bipartisan Congressional 
support because it serves children in every congres-
sional 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 Chil-
dren and Families, or any successor agency, of the De-
partment of Health and Human services, including the 
central office and 12 regional offices, that operated in the 
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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 organiza-
tional 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 per-
sonnel 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 administra-
tion 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 estab-
lished under subsection (a) shall be— 
‘‘(1) headed by a Regional Program Manager 
who reports to the Director of the Program Oper-
ations Division, and be organized consistent with the 
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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 im-
mediately 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 respon-
sibilities 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 sub-
section (d), the Secretary shall— 
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‘‘(1) transmit such plan to the Committee on 
Education and Workforce of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, 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.’’. 
Æ 
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