Long Island Head Start struggles to prepare young kids for school as government seeks changes in its mission

At around 7:45 a.m., teachers shuffle into a dimly lit, empty church basement in Riverhead. Before they can teach roughly 80 low-income preschoolers in Head Start, they must first set up a place for them to learn as class is scheduled to begin in minutes.

And so, with youngsters dropped off early milling about, some crying for their parents, teachers roll out rugs, position room dividers to create classroom walls, and place chairs and tables.

Upstairs, there are actual classrooms for a separate Head Start program, an early education, anti-poverty initiative designed to get vulnerable kids ready for school. But the basement remains the temporary home of the Southampton program until a new center, funded by the state, can become a reality.

“It gets chaotic in there, and it's sad,” Fatin Kanani, 40, of Aquebogue, said of the constant need for makeshift facilities. Her 4-year-old daughter attends Head Start at the facility. “You know, it's sad seeing all of this happen.”

Yet, come this September, similar makeshift arrangements will likely take place in the church basement and other Head Start facilities, against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s effort to cut and overhaul the 61-year-old program that fosters school readiness for vulnerable children under 5. 

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published proposed rule changes for the program that nationally serves roughly 700,000 of the nation’s neediest children, titled: “Reducing Federal Burden for Head Start Programs.”

Long Island Head Start programs, local agency officials say, are already managing a balancing act of whether to serve more children, pay staff a wage to keep them or invest in facilities by getting a new roof, playground or HVAC. The new rules could mean further cutbacks, as well as changes in the program's mission.

Democrats have accused the administration of trying to gut the program, after an initial push to freeze its funding altogether failed. Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint that has been used to implement the Trump administration's goals, had called for the end of the agency.

The administration says the proposed changes will save about $2.2 billion a year by 2031, enough to add roughly 116,500 Head Start seats and 45,600 seats to Early Head Start, which focuses on children under 3 and pregnant women.

In recent years, Congress has allocated roughly $12 billion annually to Head Start, which has long received bipartisan support. The rule changes, which are in the public comment period until early October, do not increase funding for Head Start.

A change in mission

The changes would cut the portion of permissible program and administrative costs from 15% to 5%. Officials also want, in some cases, to increase class sizes and remove the directive that instruction time should be at least six hours, moving it down to at least 3.5 hours. Requirements for oral health and mental care for children would also be removed and teaching would be in English-only. 

The planned modifications do make it easier for Head Start programs to build and renovate facilities by removing some federal building restrictions, along with stipulating that children must have 30 minutes of physical activity and nutrition-dense meals.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cast the proposed revisions as a return to the program's roots.

“We are removing unnecessary bureaucracy, strengthening nutrition and physical health, trusting parents and local communities, and opening Head Start to hundreds of thousands more children. That’s how we renew the promise of Head Start for the next generation,” Kennedy said.

But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in Congress that the proposed changes will “hurt America’s most vulnerable children.”

“After trying and failing to defund it altogether, Trump is putting the program to the torch by rolling back federal standards that ensure Head Start is high quality. That means no math or literacy requirements, no health and safety screenings, no guarantee children can access medical and dental services,” he said.

Long Island Head Start struggling

Even before the proposed rule changes, Long Island Head Start programs, and many others across the country, have been struggling due to a lack of federal funding, according to nonprofit officials and several local legislators. Long Island Head Start receives roughly $16 million in federal funding for Head Start and Early Head Start, an amount that has generally remained the same over the last several years despite inflation, staff say. Most of that cost goes to basic maintenance, staff salaries and building costs.

The lack of infrastructure funding can be seen in classrooms around the country and in the region, where Long Island Head Start has about 20 locations.

“It's not to say that every Head Start facility needs to be renovated or repaired, but there are a lot that are in desperate need, and there isn't really a consistent, clear path to be able to get those types of resources,” said Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, a nonpartisan nonprofit.

For the dozens of low-income children at the Wyandanch Head Start, preschool attendance has at times hinged on an HVAC system that has never really worked properly.

Half of the building runs too hot, and the other side is persistently too cold, leading to mold and other issues that have to be quickly remediated, staff said. And in 2024, children could not attend the program because the HVAC malfunctioned during the holiday, causing a burst pipe and leaving parents scrambling to find alternatives while repairs were underway.

“They're working families, so their whole schedules are, you know, upset, because now they have to find other childcare for their children, while we're fixing things,” said Diane Eppolito, director of quality assurance at Long Island Head Start, which provides free childcare for families with low incomes.

The program was able to get a roughly $1 million state grant to make repairs to the HVAC system, as well as provide new flooring, doors, and painting.

Facilities in need of repair

But officials at Island Head Start say playgrounds at several other locations need upgrades, including the Patchogue facility, which also needs a new roof, and the Bay Area Head Start Center in Shirley, which needs a new kitchen.

The Brentwood location, which has 54 children in Head Start and 24 more in Early Head Start, is crammed, officials said. The facility does not have an all-purpose room for staff to hold parent meetings or for children to have high-energy play. Instead, those meetings are done virtually.

“So many of our buildings are, you know, a few decades old. You know, so there's roofs, there's windows, parking lots" in need of repair, said Yvonne Green, director of human resources and facilities at Long Island Head Start.

State funds help, experts say, but what is often left on the cutting room floor are major capital improvement projects, a trend across various facilities nationwide. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report sent to Congress in 2015 found that roughly 70% of the approximately 3,600 Head Start facilities examined had not undergone a major property upgrade since they were built. The average age of a facility that housed a Head Start program was about 40 years.

The Office of Head Start works with local programs to identify funding options for infrastructure and other facility projects, “especially those related to health and safety,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Head Start programs, federal officials say, can apply to fund a facilities project using their annual operations funding or one-time supplemental funding. But outside experts contend that one-time supplemental funding often is in high demand.

The National Head Start Association is advocating for an updated infrastructure report to Congress and for the legislative body to allocate $339 million to the Office of Head Start so that local programs can repair, renovate, and rebuild facilities. 

In Southampton, the church basement is the latest stop in a long effort to get a permanent facility to provide childcare services.

For about 30 years, Long Island Head Start had been serving preschoolers in a building owned by the Town of Southampton without paying rent. Still, the facility was torn down and vacated after it was deemed structurally unsound in 2024, staff said. From there, Long Island Head Start temporarily moved children to another building and then to the church basement, where a separate Head Start program was also housed.

The new center will be in Riverside near a school building and will help to fill that void, officials said. It will have a commercial kitchen, playground and five classrooms. Newsday previously reported that the organization received more than $2 million from the state to construct the facility, originally slated to open next month but now delayed. 

The organization, which is searching for help to find a better temporary arrangement, has checked out several properties, but they have not been suitable, staff say. They can’t use a generic office space because the facility needs to house classrooms, include a playground, and meet safety standards.

John Ortiz, deputy supervisor for the Town of Southampton, told Newsday that officials there have been trying to help the town find a better temporary location since 2024, with no success.

“As we are now, presently the town has no available land and/or buildings to make available to them,” he said in a phone interview.

A popular program

But legislators say the program remains popular for area children — a place that supports siblings and eases the strain on parents. While the location is outside of his district, Suffolk County Legis. Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue) said he’s concerned because children's needs are involved.

“These are going to be our next leaders of tomorrow and our next workforce and all that,” he said. “We have to make sure that their earliest years are well prepared for that.”

Kanani has noticed a change in her eldest daughter, Samira Kowalski, since she was enrolled in Head Start. She comes home singing new songs and spelling new words and has been able to make new friends.

Most places that help prepare children for kindergarten were far too expensive, so, without Head Start, the family would have kept Samira at home. Kanani stays at home with her two daughters; her husband is a fisherman.

Kanani is thankful for the program but said she wished her daughter has a better learning environment. The basement, she said, was stuffy as parents and children gathered for a June graduation ceremony.

“I was hoping like she might be in a real school next year, but it’s not going to happen. So maybe for my next daughter we’re hopeful," she said.