WASHINGTON (AP) – The issue of Head Start began days after President Donald Trump took office.
The Trump administration announced it Freeze federal grants -Major funding for early education programs serving over half a million low-income individuals. Then came the glitch on the funding website that forced nearly 20 head start centres Close temporarily.
Even after the funding freeze was stopped, those who ran the program remained on the edge. On Tuesday, the administration gave them another reason to worry: Mass Ray Off.
Many government officials who help manage Head Start, which is federally funded but run by schools and nonprofits, are on leave. Kindergarten operators say they have not received communication from Head Start’s offices and don’t know who to resort to whether they have questions about the grant or whether they need an office to register for equipment spending.
They are afraid of the program The poorest children and families in the countrycould fall victim to a radical cut by the Trump administration.
Head Start began 60 years ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war of poverty. The programme has enjoyed bipartisan support since then, but some Republicans have highlighted its shortcomings and criticised efforts to increase funding. Project 2025 is a blueprint for policies created by a conservative heritage foundation, calling for the elimination of Head Start entirely.
Joel Ryan, head of the Washington State Head Start Association, said he was worried that the administration was slowly dismantling the program without completely removing it. “It doesn’t have to be from Congressional acts,” Ryan said. “You can kneel through the program simply by cutting down a significant number of workforce.”
Kindergarten says they need federal staff
HeadStart works in all 50 states and supports families in homelessness and poverty. Otherwise, parents who can’t afford to buy childcare rely on it when they work or go to school. Supporters say they emphasize the importance of economics and the start of the minds of children at risk.
At least five of the 12 regional offices for Head Start were closed Tuesday, according to the National Head Start Association. While funding for individual kindergartens remains the same, a statement from the association said the cuts occurred without “a clear plan as to how the administration intends to support Head Start.”
The start of worrying minds becomes partisan.
“We’re excited to be a part of our team,” said Let’s Cecil, executive director of the Indiana Head Start Association. “Because Republican households, democratic families, libertarian families could be Head Start homes.”
In mid-March, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees Head Start, visited Head Start in Alexandria, Virginia, to praise the program and its staff.
“I had a very exciting tour,” Kennedy said. video on his department’s Instagram account. “They have the kind of education and education they need.”
Still, supporters worry that GOP’s efforts to cut federal budgets will be able to curb programs like Head Start.
Already, staff layoffs have sparked concerns. Headstart kindergarten in Washington was waiting for approval to replace down fencing around the playground and buy a fridge for the center. Ryan said some operators are afraid of losing funds as grant applications are not processed.
Panic, closure
Kindergartens are heavily dependent on federal money. During the short holds of federal grants, no programs were immediately affected. Some Head Start Centers have been temporarily closed as they are unable to perform payroll on Freeze Day. Often, an unpaid day.
News about a fundraising freeze emerged in January as Head Start leaders across the country were working together in the capital Hilton, a few blocks from the White House, preparing to meet with members of Congress. Many leaders gathered in the meeting room noticed that they were being locked out of their funds at the same time.
“You could almost feel… a wave of panic throughout the room when we all realized at the same time that everyone was locked out of its payment management system.” The group operates 17 Head Start campuses in rural areas in southwestern Michigan.
A few hours later, Hillman had to call. She closed her early flower learning campus.
Kari Lorenz, whose daughter attended the early flowers, traveled to DC with Hillman as part of the Parent Advisory Committee. She was caught up in the possibility that her daughter had nowhere to go the next day. So when Lorenz hears Hillman make the announcement, she falls apart.
Both she and her husband are working – and she left town. The next day, without Head Start, he would have missed half his shifts and half of his pay in the factory where he works. But she thought up all of her daughter’s classmates and all of her parents like her who might not be able to work without Head Start.
“It meant that every family didn’t have anywhere to have children,” she said.
“They can’t go to work.”
Along the country, Cecil of the Indiana Head Start Association learned about the freeze reported by the Head Start Director and immediately began fretting. The closure of Head Start Centers in the state puts families in a pinch. But he was also worried about those who were furious. HeadStart is worried that Indiana’s 78th largest employer has nearly 4,000 staff.
Shortly after the confusing news came, Headstart was never supposed to be part of a fundraising freeze. So why did Coach Head Start think they were locked out of the fundraising portal? Asked about the suspension, the Department of Health and Human Services responded with an automatic message saying it was freezing all communications.
Even after the freeze was aborted and the Head Start Portal was assumed to be fixed, many centres found that they still had no access to funds. A week later, at least 45 grant recipients across the country were still locked out, many on the brink of closure. In Waukesha, Wisconsin, the Head Start program closed the doors and hit most of the staff. The program did not resume until the following week when leaders could access funds.
Unable to make a salary, two Head Start Centers serving rural communities in western New York have closed doors, laid out 84 employees and carefully left them through more than 200 children. They didn’t reopen until February 10th, when they were finally able to withdraw funds.
Head Start leaders said that members of the Congress of both parties were working to get in touch during the crisis and get answers for them.
For Hillman, he hoped that Headstart would continue to enjoy bipartisan support, even if some conservatives opposed it.
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Cheyanne Mumphrey contributed to the report from Phoenix, Arizona.
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