Written by Eimi Nishihira
As of September 28, Congress was on track to trigger a government shutdown starting on October 1.
For context, a government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to enact the 12 annual appropriation bills. If this does not happen, federal agencies must halt all “non-essential” functions until Congress acts to fix things. During a shutdown, many federal employees who are not considered essential do not go to work. A shutdown can disrupt things such as passport application times, business loans, national parks, and much more.
So, what would this mean for early childhood education in particular I hear you ask?
If the federal government shut down, children in programs such as Early Head Start would be forced to stay home. Around 10,000 children in the U.S. would lose access to their education and some programs would have lost their funding starting October 1st and could have been forced to close their doors according to ABC News.
At first, the Head Start associations in D.C., Maryland and Virginia indicated there would be no immediate closures if the shutdown did take place. However, Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland said time would tell how the budget impasse would trickle down to families. If the government shutdown prevented D.C. area children from going to school, it could also affect whether families and parents could work.
According to WUSA9, Washington D.C. has 105 Head Start-funded centers, Maryland has 185 centers, and Virginia has almost 400 centers. This amounts to around 26,000 slots worth of children across all the centers in the DMV area.
If children in early head start programs stay home, their parents, many of who can’t afford childcare, will have to stay home too missing the opportunity to work and earn a living for the duration of the shutdown. This will be disastrous for low-income and income constrained families and subsequently, for our economy as a whole.
Head Start programs have helped more than 38 million children and families across the U.S. since 1965. The Head Start programs are vital to children from marginalized backgrounds and give them their opportunity to learn and develop at an appropriate level. Children in the program would also be missing out on nutrition and meals provided by Head Start which they might not receive otherwise.
At CentroNía, we have an Early Head Start Program which includes home visits. Our Early Head Start program prepares expecting mothers for their newborn child and enhances the child's development through visits to participants' homes and group socialization activities.
Children in the program would also be missing out on nutrition and meals provided by Head Start providers, which they might not receive otherwise.
Some of our families and children at CentroNía receive help through the SNAP and WIC programs funded by the government. Yet another program which could be stalled in the case of a government shutdown. In the case that these families could no longer send their children to school nor receive SNAP or WIC benefits, they would likely have no other means of receiving help for food and nutrition.
All of this would be the effects of a government shutdown. In 2013, Head Start was affected by a shutdown and was able to sustain itself for a brief time, but that may not be the case if a government shutdown occurred around this time. While everyone is glad the shutdown did not take place, if it happened at all, this could have been a tragedy for low-income families and communities.