Dive Brief:

• The Trump administration's efforts to restrict Head Start's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and downsize the early childhood education program were dealt a blow Tuesday, after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked actions taken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year.
• The preliminary injunction from the U.S. District Court in Seattle says HHS' anti-DEI warnings to Head Start providers puts them "in an impossible situation" where they cannot comply with the government's DEI prohibitions while also fulfilling the program's purpose, which is to provide early childhood education for historically underserved populations.
• The temporary block also postpones mass office closures and layoffs at the Office of Head Start, which — together with the DEI ban — disrupted programs nationwide. The pause applies to programs nationwide, said attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is litigating the case.

Dive Insight:

The case was partly prompted by a letter sent to Head Start providers in March, which stated "The Office of Head Start will not approve the use of federal funding for any training and technical assistance (TTA) or other program expenditures that promote or take part in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives." 

The letter told recipients to "carefully review their annual funding application, including the budget and budget justification narrative, TTA plans, program goals, and any other supplemental materials to ensure they are in accordance with this change." 

Two weeks later, on April 1, 2025, HHS closed half of Head Start regional offices and laid off those staff, which left Head Start agencies in 23 states in the lurch, according to the original complaint filed in April by the ACLU. 

After that, as Head Start programs had difficulty accessing federal grant funds that were already allocated to them and faced other funding issues, the programs were asked to certify that they did not promote DEI, accessibility or "discriminatory equity ideology." 

Head Start providers in Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wisconsin said in the court documents that the slew of federal changes "have started to dismantle the program piece by piece, resulting in what Head Start agency directors across the country describe as 'chaos' that impedes their ability to effectively continue running their programs." Head Start programs were designed by Congress to provide services that reflect the needs of their communities and serve marginalized populations. 

Head Start serves about 750,000 infants, toddlers and preschool children a year. More than 17,000 Head Start centers operate nationwide with the support of 250,000 staff, according to the National Head Start Association, which represents the program’s families, students and staff. 

The court documents pausing the changes on Tuesday say that HHS returned one Wisconsin program director's grant application and provided her a list of of 197 terms to exclude from applications, including but not limited to "Black," "diversity," "disability," "women," "tribal," "equality," "mental health" and "barrier." 

In another case in Washington, a program requested professional development on working with children with autism to support more than 10% of its enrolled children, "but they were forced to remove these plans along with the other 'prohibited' terms from applications as 'a condition of grant renewal,'" the Tuesday court documents say.

“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 — that even children who are furthest away from opportunity should be given the early education they need to succeed in school," said Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, in a Jan. 7 statement.

HHS did not respond to K-12 Dive's requests for comment.

The preliminary injunction by Judge Ricardo Martinez comes after other blocks issued by judges in September on HHS' efforts to exclude some immigrant families from Head Start services. 

Measures by the U.S. Department of Education to cut DEI from education or education-related services have also been successfully challenged. 

Multiple rulings by federal judges last spring struck down the Education Department's anti-DEI policy, which one judge said raises "the specter of a public ‘witch hunt’ that will sow fear and doubt among teachers.” That anti-DEI policy included an "End DEI portal" and a Title VI certification requirement, which was overturned. 

Title VI protects students against racial discrimination and has typically been invoked to protect historically underserved races, but the Trump administration has used it to prohibit DEI initiatives, saying such measures discriminate against White people.