View in browser

_{An Idaho daycare worker comforts a baby. Without federal action, families with young children are facing possible disruptions in child care and food aid starting Nov. 1. Credit: Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images}

For families in more than a hundred Head Start programs across the country, November could mark the beginning of some hard decisions.

On Saturday, 134 Head Start centers serving 58,400 children would normally receive their annual federal funding, but the ongoing government shutdown has put that money in jeopardy. The federally funded Head Start provides free preschool and child care for low-income families, and is particularly important to rural communities with few other child care options. 

At the same time, the federal government has said that because of the shutdown, it cannot distribute Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that families also expect on the first of the month. Plus, a program that provides extra money for families to buy milk, baby formula, and fruit and vegetables is also running out of $300 million in emergency funding provided to it earlier this month.

All this means low-income families are facing upheaval on multiple fronts, said Christy Gleason, the vice president of policy, advocacy and campaigns for the nonprofit group Save the Children. Families in Head Start often receive other federal benefits, so they could simultaneously be facing a disruption in child care — and the meals provided there — and public food assistance.

"You're going to end up with parents and caregivers who are skipping meals themselves, because that’s the way they put food on the table for their kids,” Gleason said. Save the Children manages Head Start programs in rural Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee, but its programs are not among those affected by the Nov. 1 annual funding deadline. Head Start has 1,600 programs that receive their yearly funding throughout the calendar year.

There are still a few days left to avert the crisis, Gleason said. More than two dozen states are suing the government to force it to use a pot of money that had been set aside for paying SNAP benefits in an emergency. President Donald Trump also said this week that the food aid situation would be fixed, but didn’t offer details. Federal lawmakers have also introduced different proposals to keep food assistance money flowing. A handful of states said they will continue to pay for the supplemental milk and formula program, known as WIC. Head Start programs may be able to tap local money, but that isn’t expected to last long. 

“The clock is ticking,” Gleason said. “Every hour that goes by is an hour where the stress for these families grows, but it’s not too late for government action to change course and make sure children are not the ones to suffer the consequences of political decisions.”

This week's newsletter is sponsored by: 

Join thousands of early childhood educators at NAEYC’s Annual Conference, November 19–22, 2025, in Orlando! Gain fresh ideas from 500+ sessions led by experts and peers, explore 200+ exhibitors with the latest early learning tools, and be inspired by the largest gathering in the field.

Register today!

New data quantifies child care gaps

Nearly 15 million ages 5 and under in the United States have “all available parents” — both adults in a two-parent household, or one if the child has one adult caregiver — in the workforce. The country has about 11 million licensed or registered child care slots.

That leaves about 4 million children whose families may need child care — a hard-to-grasp number that obscures the fact that some parts of the country may have greater needs than other regions because child care providers are concentrated in some areas and sparse in others.

 
The Buffett Early Childhood Institute, based at the University of Nebraska, is trying to address that problem. It has created a map that it says will give a more accurate view of where child care is needed the most, down to the congressional district. 

_{Credit: Buffett Early Childhood Institute/University of Nebraska}

The map captures the number of children with working parents and the number of available spots in licensed child care. What it cannot capture is demand — not every family needs child care, even families with parents in the workforce — but the map does allow policymakers a starting place for a more nuanced evaluation of their community’s needs.

“We know the limitations of the data, but we also know in order to address the gap, this needs to be broken down into bite-sized pieces,” said Linda Smith, director of policy at the Buffett Institute.

Become a sponsor

More early childhood news

New Mexico may not have enough providers available for families when the state’s universal child care program starts Nov. 1, reports Sara Dadani for New Mexico in Depth. 

In The Guardian, Phoebe Weston explores the results of an effort in Finland to “rewild” the land around child care centers and expose children to the biodiversity found in nature. 

Play-based kindergarten is coming back in some states and districts, writes Elizabeth Heubeck for Education Week. 

Is this edition of the newsletter helpful?

➡️ Your feedback helps us keep this newsletter relevant to your interests. Share your thoughts with us directly.

Invite others to sign up for our newsletters.

Copyright © 2025 The Hechinger Report, All rights reserved.

Click here to manage your newsletter preferences