SBA Advocacy Backs Plan To Strip Head Start Rules For Small Providers

The U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy said it supports a federal proposal to sharply cut regulatory requirements for Head Start providers, according to a notice posted by the Office of Advocacy.

The Administration for Children and Families published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on August 7, 2026, that would rescind the 2024 Head Start Program Performance Standards and replace them with what the agency describes as a streamlined framework. The proposal would defer to state policies where possible and hand more discretion back to local Head Start agencies.

Advocacy, which represents small entities in the federal rulemaking process, said the proposal would cut federal rules that may duplicate state, local or other requirements. It also backed alternative options floated in the proposal that it said could meaningfully reduce compliance costs for the smallest Head Start recipients.

In its comment letter, Advocacy asked the agency to use the final regulatory flexibility analysis to show how the final rule would affect representative small Head Start grantees, and to spell out what the deregulatory provisions would mean in actual dollar savings. Advocacy also said the agency should be credited for soliciting comments that could shape the final rule.

This story was first reported by Office of Advocacy (.gov).