President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants to do away with the U.S. Department of Education.

Asked by reporters how soon he would like the department closed, Trump responded: “Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately. The Department of Education is a big con-job. So they rank the top 40 countries in the world. We’re ranked number 40th. But we’re ranked No. 1 in one department — cost per pupil.”

As Trump threatens to shutter the Department of Education, federal funding for programs such as Head Start, which provides wraparound services for low-income families and children, is also under threat. The right-wing Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 proposes completely eliminating Head Start.

While Trump denied knowledge of the project during his presidential campaign, one of the co-authors of Project 2025 — Russell Vought — was last week confirmed to lead the White House budget office.

Shauna Ejeh, senior vice president for programs at Illinois Action for Children, said proposed cuts to federal education funding could have a “devastating impact” in Illinois.

“Federal funding really undergirds many of the (education support) systems in states,” Ejeh said.

Speaking specifically about proposals to cut Head Start, Ejeh said: “It would be devastating for children and families who rely on the programming in order to be able to work and to be able to go to school. Understand that Head Start programming is free to parents who are enrolled. It is income-based, based on need, and so those families would lose a really key infrastructure that supports them at a crucial time in their lives.”

Ejeh added that Head Start programs are an integral part of Illinois’ entire early childhood and care ecosystem.

“And so if we were to lose the millions of dollars coming into the state,” Ejeh said, “it’s not like there are other facilities available for these children to go to.”

Mykela Collins is a former Head Start parent who now sits on the board of directors at the Illinois Head Start Association.

According to the IHSA, there are approximately 28,400 Head Start slots in Illinois.

Collins said that any cuts to Head Start funding would deny many young children from low-income families the opportunity to access a structured learning environment.

“It would be something I personally feel would be very bad for families as a whole, because in Head Start, we don’t just enroll the children, we enroll the entire family,” Collins said.

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