A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the Trump administration from requiring Head Start grant applicants to strip out words associated with diversity, equity and inclusion, and barred the Department of Health and Human Services from laying off additional federal employees in its Office of Head Start. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez issued the order Monday in a lawsuit brought by organizations representing Head Start providers and parents against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other administration officials. The suit accuses the administration of illegally dismantling the six-decade-old early childhood program.
A federal judge in Seattle on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from requiring Head Start providers to remove words associated with diversity, equity and inclusion from grant applications, and barred the Department of Health and Human Services from laying off additional employees in the office responsible for overseeing the program, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez issued the order in a lawsuit against HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other administration officials, brought by organizations representing Head Start providers and parents. The ruling halts a directive that had led HHS to send a Head Start director in Wisconsin a list of nearly 200 words the department discouraged her from using in her grant application, including “Black,” “Native American,” “disability” and “women,” according to court filings cited by AP.
Officials had first instructed the Wisconsin director to remove “race,” “belonging” and “pregnant people” from her application, the filings showed. The guidance created a practical and legal conflict: Head Start directors are required by law to report demographic data about the families they serve and must describe in grant applications how they intend to use federal funds.
Real-world consequences for providers
The forbidden-word directive produced immediate disruption for at least one provider. A Head Start director in Washington state said in a court filing that the guidance led her to cancel staff training on how to support children with autism and children with trauma.
Joel Ryan, who heads the Washington State Head Start & Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, said the court order stops an ongoing attack on Head Start centers.
“When a Head Start program has their funding withheld because of their efforts to provide effective education to children with autism, serve tribal members on a reservation, or treat all families with respect, it is an attack on the fundamental promise of the Head Start program,” Ryan said.
A Health and Human Services spokesperson said he could not comment on the judge’s order.
The lawsuit and Head Start’s scope
The lawsuit, filed in April, also challenges the administration’s alleged efforts to shut down federal Head Start offices and lay off half the agency’s staff overseeing the program, as well as attempts to bar children who are in the United States without legal status from participating in Head Start.
Head Start was founded six decades ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. The program provides early education and family support to hundreds of thousands of children from low-income households, foster homes or homelessness. It is federally funded but operated by nonprofits, schools and local governments.