Santa Clara County teachers and local leaders are warning of chaos after mass layoffs have decimated a critical preschool program for families living in poverty, known as Head Start.
Head Start staff received pink slips around March 15 amid uncertainty as to whether the federal program under the Trump administration will reimburse the Santa Clara County Office of Education for the costs. The education office’s top officials have publicly expressed confidence the grant funding will be renewed, but said they can’t hire staff for the next school year without that guarantee.
Jennifer Gravem, a spokesperson for Interim Superintendent Charles Hinman’s office, said the layoffs will not affect all Head Start workers, but didn’t immediately have an answer as to how many workers have been put on ice. She said it’s unclear when employees will be brought back if the Head Start grant gets awarded.
“It’s very dependent on the federal government,” Gravem told San José Spotlight. “We’ll either receive immediate notification or in-time notification that the grant is reinstated, so people will be reinstated as we hear from the federal government.”
Local education leaders and parents are in uproar.
“The Head Start program gives children and families instruction on nutrition, how to self advocate and puts them in touch with a lot of different resources — there’s nothing else like it,” Heather Burns, an early childhood special education teacher for the Sunnyvale School District and former Head Start employee, told San José Spotlight. “You can’t imagine the poverty (those families) face. Rents are so expensive. In the program, you will literally see entire families renting out one bedroom of an apartment.”
Even if the program restarts, Burns said the uncertainty caused by layoffs could have consequences.
“(The) temporary layoff could cause them to leave the area, get new jobs,” Burns said. “These are people who spent a lot of time in the area. They know very specific resources to the area, who to refer parents to for different concerns relating to poverty. It’s a very important network that takes time to develop.”
Scores of Head Start teachers and staff pleaded for their jobs at the March 5 Santa Clara County Board of Education meeting. Elsa Gutierrez, an associate teacher at Head Start, said many workers have been with the program for 15 years.
“It’s my calling — it’s the calling of all my colleagues,” Gutierrez said at the meeting. “We teach our children that they are important, valued and worth the world. Please don’t have us turn our backs on them as you are thinking of doing the same to us.”
It comes as the board on Wednesday will discuss applying for its five-year grant application to cover the program’s costs through June 2026. The county’s Head Start program also serves San Benito County and — if renewed — anticipates serving up to 1,207 children, 906 of whom are in preschool in addition to 201 infants and toddlers.
Dramatic federal spending cut proposals in Washington, D.C. coupled with a regional decline in school district enrollment is fueling one of the county’s worst financial crises in recent history. Head Start cuts are just one of many, with other program cuts impacting migrant youth and students with multiple disabilities.
Susan Salop, a board member of the Sunnyvale Education Foundation who has a son in special education, said the Head Start cuts will leave the region’s poorest families out to dry.
“Obviously this region is extremely expensive to live in — and this is a critical program for the people who need it most. I was shocked, to say the least,” Salop told San José Spotlight, adding that Head Start students with special needs normally don’t get accepted by private daycares, nursery schools, or in-home providers.
The teachers union came out swinging against the layoffs earlier this month.
“It is unacceptable that the futures of our students and communities are disrupted again and again by unstable funding streams,” Riju Krishna, president of the Association of County Educators, told San Jose Spotlight. “We need more consistent and robust funding so our communities can rely on that support and fund the education our students deserve. (We) will always advocate for what’s best for all our students.”
Krishna, at a March 5 board meeting, questioned why educators were first on the chopping block, despite controversy over the county education office’s top-heavy administration.
A federal investigation last month also reported that more than $135,370 earmarked for the Head Start program was misallocated to pay for non-Head Start staff and credit card purchases under former Superintendent Mary Ann Dewan. Hinman, Dewan’s successor, argued the findings pointed to a pattern of mismanagement. Dewan at the time said the misspending was an error and that she corrected it immediately when brought to her attention.
Hinman, who was brought in to reshape district spending after the board fired Dewan last October, assured the teachers’ union on March 5 his office was scrutinizing executive staff.
“I can assure you we are top heavy and we are addressing that,” Hinman said at the meeting. “There are some extremely high salaries. We’re addressing that.”
Hinman said this month’s staff layoffs are making his fiscal right-sizing of the agency look “lopsided.” But he said the office can’t commit to tens of millions in contracts for programs like Head Start without certainty that the federal government will reimburse them.
“If we act and issue $40 million in contracts and we’re not issued that $40 million by the federal government, we will go bankrupt,” Hinman said. “I believe your jobs will come back — I really do. I believe we’re going to get funded … and when your jobs come back, which I believe they will, you’ll see equity with management.”
Board of Education President Maimona Afzal Berta said the fate of the county’s most vulnerable preschool age children is in flux yet again over volatility in the federal government.
“The hope is that the Head Start layoff notices can be rescinded as soon as the (office of education) receives funding confirmation from the federal government,” Berta told San José Spotlight.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.