LA mayoral frontrunner Nithya Raman threatens lawsuit over Trump's English-only Head Start preschool plan

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 October 2026.

Nithya Raman, the frontrunner in Los Angeles's mayoral race, has come out against Trump's proposed rule requiring all instruction at federally-funded Head Start preschools to be conducted in English. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed eliminating requirements for teachers to speak pupils' home languages and removing multilingual materials for parents. If elected, Raman pledged to deploy the full resources of the mayor's office against the change and to pursue a joint lawsuit.

The English-only proposal would affect nearly 290,000 dual-language learners enrolled in the taxpayer-funded programme nationwide.

Raman described herself as 'outraged', saying the plan is 'part of a bigger campaign to target and destabilise immigrant families' rather than improve education.

Advocates for the change contend it will accelerate children's English acquisition and leave them better equipped for school.