As Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council, Building Bright Futures (BBF) is deeply alarmed by the White House’s FY2026 discretionary budget proposal, which threatens to dismantle essential supports for children and families. Sweeping cuts target housing, health care, mental health, education, economic stability, and early childhood development—placing Vermont’s most vulnerable at risk.
Critical programs—including the Community Services Block Grant, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and Community Development Block Grant—face elimination or drastic cuts. These cuts would undermine the work of community action agencies, parent child centers, and nonprofit organizations that provide food, housing, and wraparound care. Proposals to slash rental assistance and shift costs for existing housing programs to states could destabilize thousands of low-income families.
The budget does further harm by cutting afterschool programs, substance use prevention and treatment, and refugee and unaccompanied minor support, and by consolidating education programs with no clear plan for critical programming for vulnerable children and communities. It also threatens vital public health infrastructure, funding for maternal and child health and family planning, and research that is critical to children’s health and well-being. The Preschool Development Grant (PDG)—a key driver of early childhood systems-building—is also targeted for elimination.
While child care programs like Head Start, Early Head Start, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant were not mentioned, their omission is not reflective of stability or adequate investment. As the state’s early childhood accountability body, BBF will assess and respond to these threats in partnership with agencies and communities. Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the main federal programs for health care and food assistance, are not included in the White House’s discretionary budget proposal because they fall under mandatory spending, which Congress will address in the coming weeks. BBF will continue to monitor proposed changes to these critical supports for children and families.
Building Bright Futures is deeply committed to the well-being of all children and families in Vermont. As a state, we must come together to protect the systems of care that are under threat. Now is the time to act by pushing back against federal cuts, bringing Vermont leaders to the table to plan for potential gaps, and preparing our communities for creative, rapid response.
