Attorney General Kathy Jennings has announced that the Trump Administration’s unlawful attempt to defund Head Start and other programs in Delaware has been defeated in Court.
On Monday, September 21, the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted a motion for summary judgement in favor of AG Jennings and her fellow plaintiffs, blocking the Trump Administration from implementing rule changes to the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) that would have resulted in the loss of critical childcare, healthcare, and educational programs in Delaware.
“This is nothing short of a colossal victory for the most vulnerable Delawareans,” said Attorney General Jennings. “While it is shameful that this lawsuit ever needed to be filed in the first place, I am proud of this result; I hope it affirms that our office will stand up wherever we can to protect our state.”
In July 2025, the Delaware Department of Education became aware that the Trump Administration, through the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Social Services, issued notices that they were attempting to re-interpret language in PRWORA. The re-interpretation amounted to a chaotic reversal of bipartisan policy for the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, Justice, and Health & Human Services; it barred safety net programs including Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and community health centers from serving children, seniors, and other individuals who cannot verify immigration status.
Following the notice of the proposed changes, Attorney General Jennings and a coalition of 22 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit to stop them from going into effect. In September of 2025, the Court entered a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration, blocking them from implementing the rule changes.
Young children and their families would have lost access to essential services if funding was reduced or terminated; children would have lost educational, nutritional, and healthcare services, suffering long-term consequences, while many parents would have been forced to cut spending on other critical needs and may have needed to leave the workforce in order to care for their children. These impacts would have been particularly harsh in rural Delaware, where many families have limited access to education and childcare services.
Beyond Head Start, the Trump administration’s proposed cuts would have jeopardized other education services in Delaware, including adult literacy programs; English language learning programs; and career/technical education programs in community colleges and all public school districts, including vo-tech and charter schools.
Altogether, the services in Delaware that would have been impacted by the proposed cuts comprised more than $11 million in federal grants, support more than 250 education programs, and serve more than 50,000 Delawareans of all ages.
Attorney General Jennings filed this lawsuit alongside the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawai’i, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.