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Audio File of Radio Address.
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today delivered his weekly radio address warning against the disastrous consequences of the Trump Administration’s latest proposal to drastically roll back Head Start Program Performance Standards and urging the Trump Administration to reverse these efforts. The proposal would eliminate safety requirements such as instructor-to-child ratios that keep class sizes small, requirements for serving kids with disabilities and multilingual learners, standards for educational quality, child development, safety, family services, and more. In his address, the governor emphasized how destructive the Trump Administration’s latest proposal is to the quality and safety of Head Start programs, which offer high-quality early learning, health, and family support services to approximately 700,000 kids nationwide, including thousands of kids in Wisconsin.
A transcript of the governor’s radio address is available below.
Hey there. Governor Tony Evers here.
Long before becoming governor, I adopted the motto, “what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state,” but President Trump and Republicans out in D.C. must have missed the memo.
The Trump Administration is bound and determined to mess with our kids, their futures, and our state, whether it’s dismantling the U.S. Department of Education or gutting critical basic needs programs.
And their latest disastrous efforts include messing with Head Start and Early Head Start programs that serve thousands of Wisconsin’s preschool-age kids, infants, and toddlers.
These are some of our most vulnerable kids—kids that are experiencing poverty and homelessness, kids in foster care, kids with disabilities, and so many others.
Head Start programs ensure these kids have access to high-quality early education so that they can get ready for school, while providing child care for working parents who are just trying to get ahead.
Not only that, but for many of these kids, Head Start is the only place where they can get health screenings, dental care, nutritious meals, developmental screenings, family services, and so much more.
Despite its success and all the good that it does for our kids, our families, and our communities, the Trump Administration is working to dismantle this vital program bit by bit by eliminating almost all Head Start Program Performance Standards.
Eviscerating the standards and protections that have been the backbone of Head Start for decades won’t expand access to the quality experiences, interactions, and support kids need to thrive, and it certainly isn’t what’s best for our kids.
So, I’m urging the Trump Administration to rescind this disastrous rule and instead invest in giving our kids the head start they deserve and to invest in the futures of our state and our country.
Thank you.
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