A federal District Court in Washington (Ricardo S. Martinez) has issued a preliminary injunction to stop cutbacks in Head Start funding and efforts by the federal Office of Head Start from enforcing anti-diversity, equity and inclusion Executive Orders issued by President Trump.
The Court has found that the cutbacks violate the Congressional purposes of the Head Start program and that the agencies would face irreparable harm in having to follow the anti-DEI provisions in the Executive Orders.
The Court cited situations in which, during the pending litigation, the Head Start Office had returned one application asking the agency to remove certain words from the application, including “racism,” “race,” “marginalized,” “institutional,” “historically,” “bias,” “equity,” “diversity,” “belonging,” “gender,” and “LGBTQIA 25+.” The applicant was also given a list of 197 other terms to exclude from applications, including “advocate,” “at risk,” “barrier,” “disability,” “expression,” “socioeconomic,” “tribal,” “underserved,” and “women.”
Another agency for American Indian and Alaska Native member programs was instructed to remove the eligibility and selection criteria from the application. “Given that the program is located on a reservation, approximately 70% of the children enrolled are tribal members, these Plaintiff agency members do know how to comply with these requirements and their purpose to support and provide for their indigenous community,” the Court said. (Washington State Association of Head Start and Early Childhood Assistance and Education Program v. Kennedy, W.D. WA, No. C25-781, 1/6/26.)
Add new comment