REPORT: Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze Forces Head Start Preschools to Temporarily Shut Down
February 5, 2025

Key Point: “Head Start preschools serving thousands of children around the country could be at risk of closing because they remain locked out of their federal funding, a problem that first surfaced last week during President Donald Trump’s aborted effort to freeze federal grants.”
Associated Press: Still locked out of federal funding, several Head Start preschools may need to close temporarily
By Moriah Balingit
- Head Start preschools serving thousands of children around the country could be at risk of closing because they remain locked out of their federal funding, a problem that first surfaced last week during President Donald Trump’s aborted effort to freeze federal grants.
- Administrators around the country last week discovered they were locked out of a government website used to access grant funding for Head Start, an early education program that serves some of the nation’s neediest families and children.
- 45 Head Start grant recipients across the country reported problems accessing their funding, said Tommy Sheridan of the National Head Start Association.
- In the wake of the federal funding pause last week, a Michigan nonprofit that runs 17 Head Start schools had to close its doors for a day because it could not pay its employees.
- In Wisconsin, the National Centers for Learning Excellence, which serves more than 200 children and their families, shut down for a week and laid off staff because it could not access its funding.
- At least a dozen other grant recipients in Wisconsin could not access their funds in Wisconsin. Other centers in Pennsylvania also were contemplating shutting down if they can’t access funding soon.
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