Programs that provide pre-K instruction and day-care services for tens of thousands of children from low-income families cannot secure crucial federal money Congress approved for them months ago—despite verbal commitments from Trump administration officials that a planned federal funding freeze is no longer in effect and wouldn’t affect Head Start even if it were.
At least 50 Head Start and Early Head Start providers in 24 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are still waiting for reimbursements they requested from the federal government as much as a week earlier, according to a nationwide survey of providers conducted Feb. 4 by the National Head Start Association.
Roughly 1,600 independently operated programs under the Head Start and Early Head Start banners annually serve more than 700,000 children from low-income families nationwide. They contract with the federal government to provide services in exchange for federal money allocated by Congress that covers the bulk of their expenses. Some operate in conjunction with a school board or local child-care organization, while others are standalone entities.
Head Start operators had good reason to believe they would be insulated from the federal funding chaos that’s engulfed the nation in recent weeks. Two judges have halted the Trump administration’s Jan. 27 order to broadly freeze billions of dollars of federal grants. The administration itself has rescinded the plan. And federal agency officials said last week that Head Start wasn’t among the programs affected by the planned freeze.
But for dozens of Head Start programs in states including California, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, money still isn’t flowing as normal, leaders of state Head Start associations told Education Week.
Jen Bailey, the executive director for the Reach Dane network of Head Start and Early Head Start programs in southern Wisconsin, used the federal government’s online payment portal to draw down $600,000 in two installments on Jan. 29 and 31, to cover payroll and health insurance expenses for her 250 staff members.
Head Start officials typically see federal funds hit their accounts within 24 hours of requesting the money. But as of Feb. 5, the online portal listed the status of both requests as “pending.”
“One of the obstacles has been, people heard in the media, ‘The freeze is paused, everything’s fine,’” Bailey said. “We’re like, it’s not fine! This is actually still happening.”
Many Head Start programs lack reserves or an alternative source of cash if federal money doesn’t flow on time.
Bailey’s program could cover recent expenses using reserves, but the Reach Dane board is reluctant to continue doing that much longer, Bailey said. She’s already begun drafting layoff notices and temporary shutdown plans for classroom-based and home visit programs that span two counties, one urban and one rural.
Other programs have even more pressing existential concerns. Child and Family Centers of Excellence in Waukesha, Wis.—closed last week and hasn’t yet reopened. Another program serving 425 children in western Idaho could shut down as soon as Friday if funds don’t arrive soon, said Meg Woller, executive director of the Idaho Head Start Association.
In Pennsylvania, at least six Head Start programs that collectively serve more than 1,000 children still hadn’t received expected federal payments as of the morning of Feb. 5, said Kara McFalls, executive director of the Pennsylvania Head Start Association.
“Families rely on this as a safe care place for their kids,” McFalls said. “It’s a travesty that it would, in any way, shape, or form, be undermined.”
Some Head Start programs, including Bailey’s in Wisconsin, have taken out lines of credit to help them temporarily weather the financial storm. But Bailey has since learned that federal accounting rules prohibit using federal money to cover interest payments. Some Head Start providers, or the organizations to which they report, may be reluctant to take such a risk.
Head Start children and families face the most uphill challenges to success in school and life. Having stability, having consistency, is something that families and children really, really need.
Tommy Sheridan, deputy director, National Head Start Association
Many Head Start operators and advocates are bracing for further turbulence with the program, which began in 1965 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society.
Republicans in Congress have circulated proposals in recent years that offer virtually no increase to Head Start funding, or propose cutting investment by hundreds of millions of dollars. Project 2025, the conservative presidential policy document authored in large part by former Trump administration officials in conjunction with the Heritage Foundation, calls for eliminating Head Start altogether.
Meanwhile, deputies of the billionaire Elon Musk have recently seized access to Treasury Department payment platforms typically controlled by career civil servants, raising broad questions about whether federal funding will continue to flow as normal going forward.
Children are eligible to attend Head Start from birth to age 5 if their family income is below the poverty line, or if they’re in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or receiving federal safety net benefits like SNAP or TANF. Programs can also serve some children who don’t meet those criteria, as long as they also serve all income-eligible students.
The current funding chaos for Head Start is likely to be felt most acutely by families with children who are enrolled with small providers, providers in rural areas, and providers that operate independently from a larger organization like a company or school district, Head Start advocates and operators said.
“Head Start children and families face the most uphill challenges to success in school and life,” said Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association. “Having stability, having consistency, is something that families and children really, really need.”
Providers have dealt with technical issues and delayed funds
The current issue of late payments is just the latest in a series of whiplash-inducing developments the programs have been navigating in the last 10 days.
The trouble began Jan. 27. Hundreds of Head Start providers were coincidentally in the Washington for the national association’s winter leadership conference when the Office of Management and Budget issued an evening memo announcing a government-wide grant funding halt to start the next evening at 5 p.m.
Later that evening, and into the next day, Head Start providers nationwide began reporting that they could no longer access the payment platform they use to request reimbursements from their federal allocations to be transferred into their bank accounts. Those reimbursements cover costs programs have already incurred, including expenses for rent and food.
That afternoon, federal officials said the glitch was unrelated to the funding freeze plan. They also shared a list of thousands of federal programs that would be affected by the freeze; Head Start wasn’t on it.
Head Start operators’ contacts in federal agencies like the office of Head Start, under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, didn’t send guidance and weren’t responding to inquiries.
“We were all finding out at the same pace as the general public and the media,” said Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association.
Even so, reports that Head Start funding wouldn’t freeze led some providers to breathe easier, especially once they regained access to the payment platform by the end of that day.
Many Head Start programs have experienced no further problems since then. Many more saw subsequent delays in federal funding but have since been paid promptly. State association leaders in Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, and Nebraska told Education Week on Feb. 4 they weren’t aware of any of their members still struggling with getting federal payments.
But many states still have a handful of providers struggling for relief. Like Bailey, these providers submitted typical drawdown requests for money they needed to pay their employees, and to cover expenses ranging from milk to transportation. Some providers have been refreshing the page every day for the last week, only to find that their request is still listed as “pending.”
It’s virtually impossible to get a full count of Head Start programs experiencing payment delays.
Some state associations, especially those run by volunteers rather than full-time employees, haven’t been able to confirm for certain that every individual provider has seen funding return.
Programs also operate on different funding schedules that complicate efforts to track problems—some didn’t attempt to draw down funding in the last week, and might discover an ongoing issue next time they access the system. Federal accounting rules cap the amount of money Head Start grant recipients can pull down in one sitting.
In West Virginia, two smaller programs serving a combined 233 students are weathering federal funding delays with the help of their associated school districts. But a third affected program with 368 students, Community Action, can likely only survive for two more weeks without the return of federal support, said Lori Milam, executive director of the West Virginia Head Start Association.
Funding problems came amid broader federal chaos
The precise reason for the delays is not clear to providers or their advocates. Unnamed administration officials told HuffPost and other outlets on Feb. 4 that the funding delays stemmed from a technical glitch that resulted in a “residual backlog of payment approvals.”
Some providers, meanwhile, have seen a message pop up during the reimbursement process that warns programs to expect delays while the federal government reviews whether the requests conform with executive orders signed by President Trump in the days since he took office. (The specific orders weren’t specified; Trump’s early executive orders have included calls for a broad national shift away from funding efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, and “gender ideology.”)
“Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments,” the message reads.
That message appears to directly contradict a Jan. 31 court order from a Rhode Island district court judge.
“Federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate any awards or obligations on the basis of the [Office of Management and Budget] Memo, or on the basis of the President’s recently issued Executive Orders,” wrote U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr.
At one point in recent weeks, the message about executive orders was visible on the home page of the payment platform site Head Start providers regularly use, said Sheridan from the national association.
As of Feb. 5, it no longer appears there—but another bulletin says the platform is now only accessible to users between 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern on weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Previously, program managers could access the site at all hours, according to state association leaders.
The federal health and human services agency didn’t answer requests for comment in time for publication.
Future funding is now more uncertain than ever
The current funding issues Head Start is experiencing are for funds Congress already appropriated to them last year. The executive branch has no authority to unilaterally withhold or otherwise interfere with spending decisions approved by Congress.
Even so, the turbulence of the last few weeks has many Head Start program managers worried about what the future may hold.
Across the nation, Head Start programs collectively lack the capacity to serve all eligible children. Some states have only one-third the number of Head Start seats they would need to serve every eligible child, according to federal data.
Shortages of qualified staff willing to tolerate challenging conditions and low wages are partially to blame for those gaps, experts say.
The Biden administration last year finalized a rule that requires many Head Start providers to increase staff pay to match what local school districts offer—but Republican lawmakers opposed the change and have said they might move to roll it back.
In Illinois, Head Start programs only recently have begun to make progress on improving staff retention, said Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, executive director of the state Head Start association.
“When you receive threats like this, the community is worried and frightened, and people start to think, ‘Maybe I should go work for somewhere else that is more stable,’” she said. “We don’t need this on top of a fragile workforce.”
Some Head Start advocates say the events of recent weeks have marked a sharp contrast from the first Trump administration, when federal agencies promptly delivered emergency relief that allowed Head Start programs to reopen quickly and safely during the early days of the pandemic.
“They were nimble, and they were fast, and programs knew the money was going to be there,” said Jennie Mauer from Wisconsin.
The same can’t be said of the current administration so far, Head Start advocates said.
“Let’s assume we get through this hurdle, the funds do show up—how stable is it going to be long term?” said Bailey, who operates the Reach Dane program in Wisconsin.
The outlook for future funding for Head Start is far from clear. Congress still hasn’t passed a budget for the current fiscal year, and Republican leadership in both chambers appears eager to slash expenses going forward.
Bailey also wonders whether programs that typically receive their annual notice of funding renewal from the federal government in March or April will experience another layer of worry if Congress still hasn’t figured out a full-year budget by then.
“We know that we’re preparing for a longer-term fight,” Bailey said. “This is the beginning.”
2025-02-05 21:55:26
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