Head Start

A proposal wouldn’t directly cut funding to Head Start, but it would eliminate many of its federal regulations. Sarasota County providers worry the change could ultimately reduce funding and make it more difficult to maintain support for families.

Federal lawmakers reached a deal to reopen the government Wednesday night. But several Head Start locations across the Tampa Bay region have already closed and sent staff home.

Federal funding for the centers ran out Nov. 1.

In Tallahassee, a Head Start program has been running on “fumes," and a Lake City-based organization that runs eight centers has enough funding to keep its doors open only until the end of November.

In Florida, experts say, the loss could be devastating to the 40,000 families the program serves and, potentially, the economy.

Reading is a “doorway to life,’’ even for kids under 5, a literacy champion says.

Over 5,700 Florida kids and families rely on Head Start for early childhood education, community-based programming and essentials like food, diapers, wipes and even formula.

The decision hands a victory to Florida and 23 other states that had sued the federal government. The judge ruled the Biden administration unlawfully bypassed Congress.

According to the lawsuit, the mandate forces vaccinations on staff, volunteers and others in contact with Head Start preschool students and forces masks on everyone age 2 and older. .