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This story was originally published from EdSource

Four Head Start programs serving nearly 1,000 of California’s most vulnerable children will not receive their annual federal funding on Saturday because of the U.S. government shutdown. One of the programs has already closed temporarily.

Losing Head Start programs could be a one-two punch for low-income families who are also facing a lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits next week because of the shutdown.

The government has been shut down since Oct. 1 because Congress has failed to pass appropriations bills to finance the operations of federal agencies and programs. That means no education, child care, health screenings or healthy meals next week for about 300 infants and preschoolers in the Encompass Community Services Head Start program in Santa Cruz County.

Three other centers in California, including one serving about 400 students in Los Angeles and two smaller programs serving Native American students in the Central Valley and Northern California, are at risk of closing in the coming weeks if they cannot access funds.

“We really want to make sure that Congress understands the impact on everyday Americans of the shutdown and how this is really going to be detrimental to not just the kids we serve and people we employ, but also their families and the people that employ those families,” said Melanee Cottrill, executive director of Head Start California.

Head Start serves children from birth to 5 years of age who are homeless, in foster care, on public assistance, or whose family income is below the federal poverty level — currently $32,150 annually for a family of four.

Nationwide, 135 Head Start programs serving 65,000 students are in danger of closing because of the government shutdown, according to the National Head Start Association. 

If the shutdown continues until Dec. 1, tens of thousands of additional Head Start students and their families nationwide could be impacted, including about 2,000 students in four other California programs, Cottrill said.

November grants won’t be funded

Head Start funding is complicated. Each federally funded preschool program receives a five-year grant that must be renewed annually. Because of the government shutdown, programs with November grant renewal dates will not be able to access funding. 

But they aren’t the only Head Start programs impacted; all are dependent on federal employees — now furloughed — who review routine paperwork and decide whether to approve purchases and other things needed for regular operations, Cottrill said. 

No California programs were impacted on Oct. 1 when the government initially shut down because the state had no programs with an October renewal date, she said. 

Program forced to shutter 11 school sites

Although Cottrill would not name the Head Start programs that will be impacted on Nov. 1, officials of the Encompass Head Start program, which has 11 school sites in Santa Cruz County, announced it had paused instruction on Wednesday.

The program has provided bilingual early education to infants and children up to age 5 in the Santa Cruz area for more than 40 years.

Teachers at the program’s sites spent Thursday putting away books and children’s toys, securing their classrooms and completing needed paperwork. Encompass Head Start has 95 employees.

“Our goal is to reopen this program as soon as we can, so they are setting things up so that when they can come back, we can do that as quickly as possible,” said Kim Morrison, interim chief executive officer of Encompass Community Services, on Thursday. 

If the government closure continues beyond Nov. 12, Pajaro Valley Unified School District leaders have agreed to step in and operate the organization’s sites in Watsonville, where the bulk of the programs are located, Morrison said. The school district will employ teachers and assistants from the Encompass Head Start program at some sites.

The Head Start program is seeking education partners to offer services to the 50 students attending classes outside Watsonville, Morrison said.

Encompass Head Start was already financially stressed before the government shutdown. First, its federal grant was reduced from $10 million to $6 million because of declining enrollment. Last month, it learned that Head Start programs were no longer allowed to carry over funds from previous years, meaning it lost $400,000 it had counted on.

Faced with imminent closure, Santa Cruz County and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education stepped up to provide $362,000 to fund the program through October.

Jackie Thu-Huong Wong, executive director of First 5 California, is concerned about the prospect of Head Start students losing services.

“You know that 90% of the brain is developed by age 5,” Wong said. “These are our Head Start, Early Head Start babies. Eighty percent of the brain is developed by age 3. So, where are these babies getting enrichment, early learning opportunities, developmental opportunities if they’re not at a Head Start site?” 

Closures could destroy programs

After the pandemic, many of the preschool programs that closed never reopened, Wong said. Teachers took other jobs, leases went unpaid. She is hoping the same thing doesn’t happen to Head Start programs that can’t access funding.

Concerns about federal funding have had Head Start families and staff on edge since the beginning of the year.  Preschool teachers and staff are hard to find, so Head Start programs are trying to reassure staff that these closures will be temporary, Cottrill said.

“We know that our teachers started looking for jobs,” Morrison said. “They have to do that. They have to take care of themselves. We can’t stop them from doing that at all. We hope that they feel strongly enough about our programs that they’ll want to come back when we’re ready to open.”

‘End the Shutdown Day of Action’

Encompass Community Services and Head Start California were among 18 California organizations to sign a letter sent by the First Five Years Fund on Wednesday that called on Congress to end the government shutdown and to protect Head Start.

The letter was part of an “End the Shutdown Day of Action” on Wednesday. Early childhood education advocates also rallied supporters to write to members of Congress to persuade them to pass a budget that fully funds Head Start and to quickly reopen the government.

The letter said that Head Start is essential for thousands of families in every congressional district.

“The longer this shutdown lasts, the worse the consequences will be,” stated the letter, in part. “We cannot allow political gridlock to take away opportunities from our youngest learners and their families. It’s time for lawmakers to re-open the government and fund these programs through the Appropriations process.”