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Albany County's Head Start program, which serves many immigrant families, usually has a waiting list. This year, its administrators are closing classrooms.

As the Times Union's Kathleen Moore reports, the early childhood education program for low-income families has 25% fewer kids this year — and the decrease, administrators say, is among children who are not native speakers of English.

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Why is this happening? Program administrators have a theory: Immigrant parents might be afraid to send their young children to school because it could expose their family to deportation. That’s certainly possible, given the atmosphere of terror fueled by federal immigration agents’ roundups. But without more data, we can't say for sure what caused the Head Start downturn, or if it reflects a pattern that’s being seen elsewhere.

Nonetheless, Ms. Moore’s story is an opportunity to point out that one way or another, troubles are on the horizon for Head Start. And the successful program’s struggles highlight how the Trump administration’s policy decisions........

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