Discretionary Spending
Function 500 - Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services
Eliminate Head Start
CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options (called Options for Reducing the Deficit) covering a broad range of issues, as well as separate reports that include options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas. This option appears in one of those publications. The options are derived from many sources and reflect a range of possibilities. For each option, CBO presents an estimate of its effects on the budget but makes no recommendations. Inclusion or exclusion of any particular option does not imply an endorsement or rejection by CBO.
| Billions of Dollars | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2021– 2025 |
2021– 2030 |
|
| Change in Spending | |||||||||||||
| Budget authority | 0 | -11 | -11 | -11 | -12 | -12 | -12 | -12 | -12 | -13 | -45 | -106 | |
| Outlays | 0 | -4 | -10 | -11 | -11 | -11 | -12 | -12 | -12 | -12 | -36 | -95 | |
This option would take effect in October 2021.
The Head Start program provides comprehensive development services for children from low-income families. It is comprised of Head Start programs for preschoolers, which primarily serve 3- and 4-year-olds, and Early Head Start programs, which provide services to pregnant women and children under age 3. In 2019, Head Start served roughly 1 million children and pregnant women.
This option would eliminate Head Start.