Head Start programming for about 60,000 children is at risk if the federal government shutdown continues into November, leaders of the National Head Start Association and its state chapters say.
On Nov. 1, 134 Head Start programs in 41 states are scheduled to receive their annual federal funding allocations, but if the government remains shut down—as it has been since Oct. 1—those funds likely will not flow.
Federal money funds the majority of Head Start programs’ budgets—typically about 80%—and, without them, many programs will be forced to lay off staff they cannot pay, suspend operations, and close buildings.
“It is really concerning that children and families are stuck in this position of effectively being collateral damage due to political gridlock,” said Tommy Sheridan, the deputy director of the National Head Start Association.
Still, even if the shutdown continues through Nov. 1, not every program slated to receive money will close immediately, Sheridan said.
Many are working to temporarily fill the funding gaps through local partnerships or shifting money around in their budgets to fund the most critical parts of operations.
But “not all programs are in a position where they have other resources or an ability to do that,” Sheridan said, and those efforts wouldn’t be sustainable long-term if the shutdown continues well into November and beyond.
It’s not yet clear how many Head Start programs will have to close if the shutdown continues through Nov. 1, but “it’s non-zero,” he said. There are six programs serving more than 6,500 children that were supposed to receive funding on Oct. 1 and didn’t, but all are still open and operating, Sheridan said.
Programs under the Head Start banner in every state collectively provide child care, early education, meals, and more to roughly 833,000 children ages 0 to 5 from low-income families. The federal program’s budget was most recently $12.3 billion.
Short-term funding solutions won’t last
In Massachusetts, six programs are scheduled to receive a new round of federal funds on Nov. 1, said Michelle Haimowitz, executive director of the state’s Head Start association. Those programs, which serve about 2,800 children, “will do absolutely everything they can” to find temporary, alternate funding sources to keep their doors open. But that approach won’t be sustainable, she said.
“These federal funds are not auxiliary. They’re not supportive funds. These are the base of what Head Start is,” Haimowitz said. “Without those funds, programs are working to the bone to try to make any possible funds available from non-federal resources to keep the lights on and to keep operations going as long as possible. But those can’t last forever, and … we’re incredibly concerned that if the shutdown continues into November, our program operations will be at risk.”
Massachusetts isn’t alone. Leaders of Head Start programs in other states, including in Michigan, Missouri, and Oregon, have raised similar concerns in recent days. In Minnesota, programs were told they could draw down supplemental, state-provided Head Start funds faster than normal to cover costs during the federal funding lapse, MinnPost reported.
The ripple effects of Head Start programs’ closures would be consequential to the parents whose children participate and the broader economy, Sheridan and Haimowitz said.
The parents of children enrolled in Head Start often rely on the program for child care while they work or attend school, and if that resource is taken away, they might be forced to decide between earning a paycheck and ensuring their child is supervised and safe, Haimowitz said.
“Programs want to keep classrooms open for children and families. They want parents to be able to be learning and working. They want children to be learning and eating,” Haimowitz said. “But, again, without access to federal funds for an extended period of time, that is what would happen.”
Head Start also uses contractors and vendors in local communities, Sheridan added.
“If we’re not receiving funds, we’re not going to be able to pay those bills,” he said. “This will have big ripple effects on the entire American economy, but especially on the local economies.”
A ‘year of chaos’ for Head Start
The current threat to Head Start funding is the latest in “a year of chaos and uncertainty” for the program, said Haimowitz.
Since January, the Trump administration has delayed and disrupted routine funding disbursements; imposed new requirements and review processes for program administrators to claim their allocated funding; laid off dozens of federal workers who help programs follow regulations; and announced a plan to block undocumented immigrants from enrolling. (A federal judge put the ban on undocumented students on hold nationwide in September, but he noted in his order that some families had already withdrawn their children as a result.)
This month, the Trump administration laid off more than 950 workers from the Health and Human Services Department as part of a round of federal employee job cuts during the shutdown. The agency hasn’t detailed which programs the laid-off workers are assigned to, but it said in a court filing that some are from the Administration for Children and Families, which includes Head Start. A judge has put those layoffs on hold temporarily.
Head Start leaders have called the programmatic changes, sudden layoffs, and push-pull of funding “anxiety-producing” and stressful.
“There’s been all of these ongoing disruptions and chaos and changes to policies and procedures that seem to be constant,” Haimowitz said. “Nevertheless, at the end of the day, programs continue to focus on their mission and their services for children and families. That has not been disrupted or changed.”
