The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors pushed back against the Trump administration’s proposal to overhaul Head Start—the federally funded program serving pregnant mothers, infants, and toddlers.
In a 4-1 motion at the Oct. 6 meeting, supervisors approved sending a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Administration for Children and Families Assistant Secretary Alex Adams asking to preserve some existing standards while reconsidering others that would act as barriers to entry.
“We are particularly concerned about proposed changes affecting dual-language learners,” the letter read. “Supporting children’s development in English is important, but we believe children should also be able to maintain meaningful connections to their home language and culture.”
Fourth District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding agendized the item after Community Action Partnership of SLO (CAPSLO) board President Lan George alerted the community in a letter to New Times about HHS’s proposal to replace and cut national standards that govern Head Start.
The proposed rule claims to reduce regulations and restore authority to states, give parents more decision-making power, replace detailed regulatory provisions with a consolidated framework, and emphasize nutrition and physical exercise.
The supervisors’ letter arrived as part of the public comment period on the proposed rulemaking, which ran through Oct. 6.
‘The reality is that these proposed changes will really disenfranchise, in our particular case, I think the most vulnerable and those who are Spanish speaking only.’
—Jimmy Paulding, SLO County 4th District supervisor
Questions arose about a specific change that requires all Head Start programs to provide English-only instruction. The proposal stressed that if a child’s native language isn’t English or if they don’t speak English, Head Start programs must prioritize teaching them English.
“If finalized, these proposed changes would represent a shift from current Head Start regulations, which require programs to support bilingualism, including both English and the home language for children who are dual language learners, as the current requirements are at odds with [Executive Order] 14224, Designating English as the Official Language of the United States,” the proposed rule said.
Second District Supervisor Bruce Gibson, 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg, and Paulding worried that some of the proposed standards wouldn’t be beneficial to many children enrolled in Head Start.
“The reality is that these proposed changes will really disenfranchise, in our particular case, I think the most vulnerable and those who are Spanish speaking only,” Paulding said at the meeting. “Programs should have the flexibility to use appropriate bilingual approaches that support children’s learning and allow parents to participate fully in their children’s education.”
CAPSLO runs Head Start locally. CAPSLO serves more than 300 children in the county and more than 3,000 children across 10 California counties. In fiscal year 2026-27, it received $62 million in Head Start contracts that serve 3,200 children.
The nonprofit’s Child, Youth and Family Services Division director, Melinda Sokolowski, told New Times that the proposal impacts not only English language proficiency standards, but also services for children with disabilities, credentials for employees to work in classrooms, and how service providers engage with families.
“Some of the entry points to gaining these services, I think that’s an area that we’re extremely protective of,” she said. “There was a proposal to not allow what’s called a self-attestation, which allows families experiencing homelessness or domestic violence … to come and enroll and try to put their child in a quality child care program, and then gain the other documents that make them eligible.”
Sokolowski added that if the proposal is finalized, it’s up to Head Start programs to adapt to the changes with the existing funding.
“We are adaptable and flexible and innovative, but we do this work because we do it at a level of quality that we know is best for young children,” she said. “I’m more concerned about the quality of the standards that we deliver.”
At the Board of Supervisors meeting, 1st District Supervisor John Peschong was the sole dissenter on submitting the letter to the federal government.
He said the letter contained negative statements about the Trump administration. Fifth District Supervisor Heather Moreno echoed him and said she “doesn’t love the idea of poking the bear.”
“Like, are we saying we want those students segregated and just being taught in Spanish and never learning English?” Moreno asked.
A local Head Start provider responded that children at Head Start enhance their Spanish while developing their English language skills. Moreno decided to support sending the letter after the provider weighed in.
“They are hearing their home language in Spanish at home and our caregivers at that age are mainly going to be speaking their home language. However, in the classrooms we have an English-speaking teacher and a Spanish-speaking teacher,” the provider said. “We end up with children at the end going to kindergarten fully competent in Spanish and English. … We don’t segregate, Ms. Moreno.”
This article appears in Oct 15-22, 2026.
