Nearly Two-Thirds of Montgomery County’s Head Start Children Come From Multilingual Homes. A Federal Rule Would Mandate English Only.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joined 23 attorneys general and the governor of Kentucky in formally opposing a federal proposal to rewrite the rules governing Head Start, his office announced Wednesday. One piece of that proposal lands harder in Montgomery County than almost anywhere else in the state: it would impose an English-only mandate, and about 63 percent of the roughly 1,000 children in Montgomery County’s Head Start program come from multilingual households.

The enrollment figures come from Montgomery County’s own government, which said in August that it was submitting its own comment opposing the rule. The County has been a Head Start grantee for more than 60 years.

The Comment Period Has Already Closed

Readers cannot weigh in on this one. The proposed rule, titled “Reducing Federal Burden for Head Start Programs,” was published in the Federal Register on August 7, and the public comment window closed on Tuesday, October 6. Brown’s office announced the multistate letter the next day.

The federal docket recorded 14,248 comments. What happens next is that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviews them and decides whether to issue a final rule. No date has been set for that.

What the Rule Would Do

The proposal would rescind and replace the Head Start Program Performance Standards, which were last revised in 2024. In its own summary, HHS says the rewrite would “significantly reduce Federal bureaucratic burden on programs,” “defer to State policies wherever possible,” and “return substantial local control to Head Start agencies.”

The attorneys general describe the same proposal differently. According to their announcement, it would eliminate more than 1,400 regulations, including:

• Requirements for early support and coordination of services for children with disabilities
• Maximum child-to-staff ratios
• Safety standards and safe transportation practices
• Parent committees
• Staff credentialing and training requirements
• Research-based timelines for health, developmental and vision screenings
• Minimum hours of service, the prohibition on expulsions, and limits on suspensions

The proposal would also cut the cap on allowable administrative and development costs from 15 percent to 5 percent. The attorneys general argue that change could make it harder for programs to become and remain Head Start providers.

Why the Language Provision Matters Here

Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González, who chairs the Council’s Economic Development Committee, singled out that provision in the County’s August 19 statement.

Moreover, this proposal is a direct attack on multilingual programs. Requiring English-only instruction contradicts decades of research showing that students learn best by building on their home language first. We can’t allow this latest proposed federal action to remove core safeguards for our children and destabilize families.

Montgomery County Council President Natali Fani-González, August 19, 2026

County Executive Marc Elrich said in the same statement that the changes “don’t cut red tape, they cut into what makes the program work: qualified teachers, high-quality early learning, and a voice for parents.” Community Action Board Chair DaVida Rowley said the County “cannot lower the standards for the families who have historically had the fewest opportunities.”

Montgomery County’s Head Start by the Numbers

• Head Start serves approximately 1,000 children a year in Montgomery County, across Montgomery County Public Schools and community-based programs.
• About 63 percent of enrolled children come from multilingual households.
• 100 percent of the infants, toddlers and preschool children come from homes experiencing economic hardships.
• Montgomery County has been a Head Start grantee for more than 60 years.

Statewide, Maryland Head Start and Early Head Start programs served more than 7,000 children and nearly 100 pregnant individuals in both 2024 and 2025, according to the attorneys general.

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Press Release: Office of the Maryland Attorney General

Issued October 7, 2026. Reproduced in full from the Office of the Attorney General. Media contact: press@oag.state.md.us, 410-576-7009.

Attorney General Brown Defends Head Start Standards Against Trump Administration’s Proposed Cuts

BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general and the governor of Kentucky in submitting a comment letter opposing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) proposal to dramatically cut regulations governing the Head Start program.

Head Start is an early childhood education program designed to help break the cycle of poverty in adulthood by providing young children from low-income backgrounds with comprehensive services to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and educational needs. The proposed rule would gut long-standing and evidence-backed Head Start Program Performance Standards, impose an English-only mandate, and reduce the cap on allowable administrative and development costs from 15 percent to 5 percent, while adding other burdensome requirements that would undermine children’s ability to learn and be prepared to succeed in school.

Head Start has operated with bipartisan support for over 60 years and helps address the national childcare gap, estimated at 28.2 percent of children with potential need who cannot access care within a reasonable distance. In both 2024 and 2025, Maryland Head Start and Early Head Start programs served more than 7,000 children and nearly 100 pregnant individuals. Head Start is critical for children who are frequently turned away from or otherwise cannot access quality early education, such as children with disabilities, children experiencing homelessness, migrant children, children learning English, and children from low-income households.

The proposed rule would eliminate over 1,400 regulations designed to protect enrolled children, pregnant individuals, and families, which could upend a nationwide system of care. Specifically, the proposed rule would eliminate requirements for early support and coordination of services for children with disabilities, maximum child-to-staff ratios, safety standards and safe transportation practices, parent committees, staff credentialing and training requirements, and research-based timelines for health, developmental, and vision screenings. It would also remove minimum hours of service, the prohibition on expulsions, limits on suspensions, and end the ability of families to self-attest in eligibility determinations.

The Department of Health and Human Services describes the proposed rule as returning discretion to the states and allowing programs to respond to local conditions. In reality, the proposed rule would create state-by-state disparities in early childhood education and care and significantly increase workload and costs for state agencies. HHS acknowledges that the rule would mean larger class sizes; fewer teachers, coaches, and home visitors; shorter program days; and reduced health, dental, and mental health services, leading to poorer educational outcomes for children and added strain on the states’ public health and welfare systems. The proposed cap on administrative costs could make it harder for programs to apply to become, and remain, Head Start providers, further limiting services for children in Maryland. Several provisions also vest undefined discretion in HHS, leaving Maryland Head Start programs exposed to political targeting by this federal administration.

Joining Attorney General Brown in the letter are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governor of Kentucky.

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