In April, leaked documents detailing fiscal year 2026 budgets revealed plans to cut Head Start funding entirely. Megan Woller, executive director of Idaho’s Head Start Association, recalls one local Head Start office considered taking out a loan in July in order to pay staff before the funding came through. The administrative funding hiccups were exacerbated by the stress of not being able to reach regional federal Head Start offices: In April, the 10 Head Start offices that helped local Head Start offices throughout the country were whittled down to five, with the remaining half of offices in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle closing. Each state has its own amount of Head Start funding, with some receiving more than others due to additional state investments. There’s the added confusion of the recently announced policy change to reclassify Head Start as a federal public benefit, which would bar non-U.S. citizens from enrolling in Head Start services.