Federal shutdown puts a Hi-Line Head Start program at risk

In the small towns of Harlem, Hays and Lodge Pole along the Hi-Line in north-central Montana, roughly 125 infants, toddlers and young kids regularly spend their days at child care centers run by Head Start, the decades-old federal early childhood initiative. 

But those Fort Belknap Head Start services will be scrambling for funding as of Nov. 1 as a result of the ongoing shutdown of the federal government, according to its staff. The program is one of 22 Head Start hubs around the state, but the only one with a grant-funded contract up for renewal on Oct. 30. 

Julia Doney is the director of the Fort Belknap Head Start programs. She has worked for the organization since 1974, first as a volunteer when her own daughter was enrolled. She said in a Wednesday interview that the Fort Belknap tribal government has agreed to help cover the program’s expenses next month, but that she is unsure of if or when she’ll be able to repay that loan. The program’s expenses for one month of staff salaries for about 50 people, plus fuel for buses and other supplies, could be as much as $200,000, she said.

“If we don’t get refunded, the tribe will be out that money,” Doney said. 

She said she’s tried to register her concerns with federal staff who oversee the Head Start grants without response since the federal government shut down beginning Oct. 1.

“There’s nobody there to talk to me. I just keep putting messages in as if there’s someone there to see it,” she said.

The National Head Start Association, the nationwide organization that represents local Head Start affiliates, estimates that 10% of programs across the country face a similar Nov. 1 funding cliff.

In Montana, Head Start representatives said that the temporary closure of even one early childhood education program would have a huge community impact. The Fort Belknap program, for example, serves residents on the Fort Belknap Reservation, spanning Blaine and Phillips Counties. Both those counties are considered child care deserts according to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

Even if other child care centers are available, affordability is a major hurdle. Karen Filipovich, the executive director of the Montana Head Start Association, said most families who participate in Head Start programs have incomes near the federal poverty line. 

When it comes to keeping their doors open, Filipovich said, programs generally rely on their federal grants to cover roughly 80% of their budgets. Some programs have funds to fall back on, she said, but that won’t tide them over long term. 

“No one has a lot but everyone has a little. And that will drive how long a program can stay open if their new grant is not approved because we’re in shutdown,” Filipovich said.

Staff at other Head Start programs around Montana say they consider themselves lucky that their annual grant renewal date isn’t likely to fall during the shutdown. The program in Great Falls, run by Opportunity, Inc., renewed its Head Start contract at the beginning of August. The Ravalli Head Start program, which serves communities in the Bitterroot Valley and some in Missoula, isn’t up for a grant renewal until next summer.

“Right now what we’re trying to do here locally is just to reassure staff and families that we are funded, we are here, at least through June 30 of 2026,” said Michele Craig, the executive director of Ravalli Head Start Inc.

Montana program representatives noted that Head Start services extend beyond just child care. They offer health screening and connect families to other services, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and energy assistance for low-income families.

Craig said some of those programs are also at imminent risk of losing funding as the federal shutdown grinds on. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, which administers the SNAP food assistance program, announced Tuesday that benefits would not be available beginning Nov. 1. 

In a Wednesday evening statement about the budgetary squeeze on SNAP benefits and the Fort Belknap Head Start program, a spokesperson for Montana U.S. Sen. Steve Daines directed blame at Congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The minority caucus has pushed for a new spending agreement that includes funding for Affordable Care Act subsidies, a bargain Republicans have opposed.

“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats continue to vote to keep the government closed, despite fully knowing the impact that it has on Americans who rely on critical programs like SNAP and Head Start,” said Daines Press Secretary Gabby Wiggins. “Senator Daines has been clear from the start that he opposes government shutdowns and will continue fighting to help Montanans who are impacted.”

A spokesperson for Montana’s other U.S. Senator, Tim Sheehy, didn’t respond to an inquiry Wednesday.

Doney, with Fort Belknap’s program, expressed frustration about Daines’ statement.

“I don’t want them to be using Head Start as another weapon to try to make anything happen,” Doney said. “Don’t blame either party. Just take responsibility for it. Just say, ‘This is what I can do and this is what I’m going to do.’”

“I am to the point that I want to spend my own money, buy a plane ticket out to Washington D.C. and go knock on the doors of who’s there,” Doney added. “But who’s there? Whose door do I knock on?”