Head Start at Risk: How Early-Childhood Support Faces a Government Shutdown Crisis

When the U.S. federal government closed operations on October 1, 2025, it triggered an urgent crisis for many early-childhood education programs. One of the hardest hit: Head Start, a cornerstone program for children from low-income families.

Low Income Children engage in educational play with a caregiver at a Head Start program.

What’s Happening?

• Grants for Head Start programs are released on a staggered schedule throughout the year. Because of the shutdown, 134 programs across 41 states and Puerto Rico, serving roughly 58,000 children, risk missing their November funding. (The Washington Post)

• Earlier, at least 6 programs serving over 6,000 children have already missed a funding deposit in October. (First Five Years Fund)

• In Massachusetts alone, 6 out of 28 Head Start agencies are scheduled to lose federal funding on November 1 unless the shutdown ends — affecting about 3,000 workers and more than 10,000 children. (WBUR)

• In Colorado, four Head Start centers that serve nearly 1,300 children are facing disruption if additional federal funds don’t arrive. (Colorado Public Radio)

The ongoing federal government shutdown has placed Head Start in critical jeopardy. If federal funding doesn’t resume soon, hundreds of programs across the country that serve low-income children are at risk of closure. (AP News)

What’s at stake for children

Head Start wasn’t just preschool — it offers early education, health screenings, nutritious meals, emotional support, and stability for children from low-income households or experiencing homelessness. (WPR) When a Head Start site shuts down even briefly:

• Children lose access to two meals a day, health and dental screenings, and consistent early-learning routines. (Courthouse News)

• A break in enrollment or early-learning disruption can lead to missed milestones in language, social-emotional development, and readiness for kindergarten.

• For many families, the Head Start classroom is the first stable educational environment their child experiences — its absence rings loudly for developmental equity.

What happens if services are interrupted

• Children may return to home environments without the structured early-learning setting they were in — for some, this could be the only full-day program they attend.

• Gaps in early-education exposure often translate into weaker school readiness, requiring catch-up intervention later and increasing the likelihood of long-term academic challenges.

• Family stress rises when child-care disappears overnight: parents may juggle missed work, finding last-minute care, or pull children out of programs entirely.

Why this moment matters

Because Head Start is funded entirely through annual federal grants and cannot carry over unspent money, a delay or pause in funding means programs can’t operate. (Courthouse News) More than 65,000 seats nationwide could be affected if the shutdown continues past the next grant-cycle cutoff. (AP News) In Wisconsin, for example, nearly 400 children were projected to lose Head Start access beginning November, with more than 1,100 additional children at risk in December if the shutdown isn’t resolved. (WPR)

Final thought

At its core, this shutdown threatens early childhood development, support working families, and reduce long-term inequities. When Head Start falters, children lose vital

growth opportunities, and parents lose reliable support.