California Attorney General co‑led a multistate coalition in submitting a comment opposing a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposal to roll back Head Start standards, the attorney general’s office said in a press release dated Oct. 6, 2026.
The attorney general’s office said the proposed rule would eliminate more than 1,400 regulations that protect children, pregnant individuals and families; it would remove requirements for early support for children with disabilities, maximum child‑to‑staff ratios, staff credentialing and training, safety and transportation practices, parent committees, minimum hours of service, and prohibitions on expulsions and limits on suspensions.
The office said HHS proposes to ban non‑English instruction and to cut the allowable administrative‑and‑development cost cap from 15% to 5%; the office added that HHS would gain broad discretion to reject program budgets, which the office said could expose programs to political targeting.
“Every child deserves a fair shot to succeed, which is what Head Start provides for hundreds of thousands of families across California and the country,” said Attorney General Bonta in the release.
The attorney general’s office said the proposed rule would mean larger class sizes, fewer teachers, coaches and home visitors, shorter program days, and reduced health, dental and mental‑health services; the office said those changes would lead to poorer educational outcomes and added strain on state public‑health and welfare systems.
In 2024–25, the attorney general’s office said, more than 84,000 children and nearly 1,500 pregnant women were served by California Head Start and Early Head Start programs; the office warned the proposed cap on administrative costs could make it harder for programs to apply for, become and remain Head Start providers.
The comment letter was co‑led by Attorney General Bonta and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin and the governor of Kentucky, the release said.
The attorney general’s office linked the filing to Bonta’s recent legal actions defending social‑safety‑net programs; the office said he secured a final court order last month blocking the administration’s restrictions on access to public benefits, including Head Start, and has challenged the administration’s public‑charge rule and won orders protecting SNAP benefits and recipient data.
State
Rob Bonta
Attorney General · Democrat
Named 3 times in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
Sources & methodology
This report was written from the primary materials below. Links open at the original publisher.
California Attorney GeneralSee something we should correct? Read our corrections policy.