Head Start is designed to target poverty, experts sayHead Start serves more than half a million low-income babies, toddlers, and preschoolers nationwide. If the changes take effect, they could make Head Start unrecognizable, said Khari Garvin, who ran the Office of Head Start under President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Many of the features that make Head Start distinct from mainstream preschools are spelled out in 122 pages of performance standards. After public outcry, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , whose department oversees Head Start, told Congress the program’s funding was safe. Earlier this year, Trump officials also erased a Biden-era rule that mandated raises and greater benefits for Head Start employees.