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For the first time in close to seven years, Congress failed to reach a budget agreement in time for the new fiscal year. As a result, the federal government shut down for 43 days, causing nationwide ripple effects with short- and long-term implications for schools.
Congress has struggled in recent years to meet self-imposed appropriations deadlines. The negotiations were particularly contentious this year in the wake of the Trump administration’s unprecedented push to unilaterally adjust federal spending decisions to align them with the president’s policy preferences.
With no consensus on Capitol Hill for even a portion of the federal budget, agencies began implementing shutdown contingency plans on Oct. 1. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were furloughed, threatening the stability of a wide range of social services. On Oct. 10, the Trump administration announced “substantial” layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown, including at the U.S. Department of Education.
The shutdown ended on Nov. 12, becoming the longest in U.S. history at 43 days, outlasting the shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019 during the first Trump administration that spanned 35 days.
Education Week tracked the effects of this year’s government shutdown on K-12 schools in the chart below.
