For the month of October, the Reckon Report is focusing on caregiving across the human lifespan, in a series we're calling Cradle to Grave. One of the most common uses of the phrase in English-speaking countries is in reference to the United Kingdom’s public healthcare system, the NHS. From prenatal care to elder care and everything in between, we’ll be looking at America’s caregiving institutions and how they measure up (or don’t) with those of other nations.
Last week, the U.S. narrowly escaped a government shutdown when politicians agreed to a 45-day funding deal. They effectively kicked the can down the road to mid-November in the hopes that a long-term agreement can be reached sooner than later.
One less acknowledged area of concern for government funding was education, particularly funding for early childhood education programs like Head Start, a free preschool program for children from low-income households. It got a brief mention in a White House press release a few weeks ago ahead of the shutdown dealmaking, but overall, the program hasn't gotten much national attention in recent years. Up to 1 million children per year are enrolled in Head Start programs across the country, including in U.S. territories and on Native American tribal lands. Researchers have found that Head Start attendance as a small child increases the likelihood of a student graduating high school and attending college, thus boosting their lifelong earning potential.
A possible government shutdown in November wouldn’t just deprive incoming students from access to Head Start, it could also impact current students as Health and Human Services wouldn’t be able to distribute grant money to the organizations that run the programs on a local level. In Florida, for example, the program wouldn’t be impacted immediately, but a prolonged government shutdown could result in furloughs and closures, leaving children without education and parents without childcare options.
