Latest news with #ThePlayingField
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Head Start payments to Wisconsin providers are half what they were a year ago
Children at The Playing Field, a Madison child care center that participates in the federal Head Start program. (Courtesy of The Playing Field) Federal payments to Wisconsin's Head Start programs in the first three and a half months of 2025 are half what they were a year ago, exacerbating worries about the future of the program that provides child care and early education to low-income families. The Office of Head Start's payments to Wisconsin program operators from Jan. 1 through April 15 of this year were down by $35 million from the same period in 2024, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) said this week. Nationwide, Head Start program operators have received $943 million less during that period this year compared with the period a year ago, according to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), who published a table of calculations comparing disbursements for every state in a press release. The table shows Wisconsin disbursements of $34.5 million as of April 15, compared with $69.5 million in the 2024 period. Baldwin contrasted the potential impact with the pledge by the White House and the Republican majority in Congress to extend tax cuts enacted in 2017 during Trump's first term. 'The idea that the president is actively working to give the biggest corporations and wealthiest Wall Street guys a new tax break while taking away preschool and child care from Wisconsinites is beyond the pale,' said Baldwin, vowing to fight actions of President Donald Trump she described as 'defunding Head Start.' The calculations in Murray's table are based on Head Start disbursement data that Senate Democrats pulled from the Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While most states in Murray's table had lower disbursements compared with a year ago, Alabama, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia all showed increases. The calculations put the big-picture numbers on funding disruptions that Head Start providers have been experiencing in the last three months, said Jennie Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association. Those disruptions first surfaced after Trump took office, with delays of up to two weeks in late January and early February for Head Start programs seeking authorized payment for their expenses. More recently, the disruptions have continued as providers who have submitted the required documents for payment have been confronted with unexpected demands for 'more information' Mauer said Friday. 'The [federal] administration is really messing around, pulling out the foundational blocks of grant operation,' Mauer said. In order to get approved for a grant, recipients must provide a detailed accounting of how it will be spent, she said. To get payment, providers must submit detailed documentation that the expense it covers has already been incurred. 'This is a highly regulated system,' Mauer said. 'There's a very rigorous initial grant application process, and then on an ongoing basis grantees are demonstrating, 'We told you what we're going to spend the money on. Now based on what I told you, I'm asking for that money.'' The disclosure of the drop in Head Start funding comes a week after a published report raised the possibility that Head Start will be zeroed out of the next federal budget. It also comes as some providers wait for information about their upcoming grant replenishments, Mauer said. Head Start grants are provided under multi-year contracts signed with providers. The money itself, however, does not come to providers in large lump sums but in smaller amounts paid upon the submission of documented expenses, Mauer said. Every six months, an allotment from the provider's grant is made available, she said. Those funds are not paid directly to the provider, however. The money is set aside for the provider to draw on after submitting expense documents through the federal online payment system. Providers' grant cycles start on the first of the month. In Wisconsin, providers whose grant cycle started Nov. 1 have now received confirmation of their next grant allotment for the six months starting May 1, Mauer said Friday. But with the previous funding access problems and then the sudden closing three weeks ago of half of Head Start's national offices, including the Chicago Region 5 office that served Wisconsin and five other states, providers were apprehensive. 'The level of uncertainty and chaos is so dramatic,' Mauer said — in contrast not only to the Biden administration, but also the previous Trump administration. Until this year, 'these kinds of questions and uncertainties didn't exist.' Three providers whose grant cycle started Dec. 1 are waiting to learn whether their next allotment will become available starting June 1 as scheduled. Mauer said the Senate Democrats' calculations appear to be 'showing the cumulative effect' of the access to HHS funding streams by the team working for DOGE, an agency directed by billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk. DOGE is the acronym for the Department of Government Efficiency, although the office is not a cabinet department, and many of its claims of government savings have been questioned. The hold-up on information is having 'a tremendous negative effect on our programs and it's alarming,' Mauer said. 'When we think of what are the impacts of Region 5 closing and that we continue to have very, very minimal and slow communication from the Office of Head Start — they need to start communicating with grantees in a much more substantive way.' The Wisconsin Examiner contacted the federal Department of Health and Human Services using the HHS website for journalists' inquiries and has not yet received a response. This report will be updated when a response is received. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Report that Head Start could end alarms providers for the early childhood education program
Children outside with a child care teacher at The Playing Field, a Madison child care center that participates in the federal Head Start program. (Courtesy of The Playing Field) A news report that the Trump administration is considering ending the federal government's Head Start program has alarmed providers and parents who rely on the child care and early education program. 'It would be absolutely devastating,' said Jen Bailey, executive director of Reach Dane, which operates 14 Head Start centers in Dane and Green counties. 'The children and families we work with are some of the most vulnerable folks in our communities. The parents in those communities rely on the care we provide to stay employed.' USA Today reported Friday that the Trump administration 'is considering a budget proposal that would zero out funding for Head Start.' The news report quoted an anonymous administration official who said the White House funding blueprint for the 2026 fiscal year doesn't allocate money for Head Start. Responding to the report Monday, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) tied the proposal to President Donald Trump's goal of extending the 2017 tax cuts enacted in his first term. 'Shutting down Head Start — taking care away from kids, firing teachers, and making child care even more expensive for parents — all so President Trump can hand out new tax breaks for the wealthy and well-connected is flat out wrong and you can be sure I will fight this proposal at every turn,' Baldwin said. Head Start was founded in 1966, part of the War on Poverty undertaken by President Lyndon Johnson. It provides child care and preschool for families with incomes up to the federal poverty guideline. Children living in foster homes are also eligible for Head Start. In Wisconsin more than 15,000 children are enrolled in more than 300 Head Start child care centers across the state, according to the Wisconsin Head Start Association. With more than 4,300 employees, Head Start ranks in the top 100 employers in Wisconsin, said Jennie Mauer, the association's executive director. 'At least 70% of our families have a parent who is either working or in school full time,' Mauer said Monday. The remaining families include grandparents who are retired but full-time caregivers for their grandchildren as well as families unable to work due to disabilities or who 'are working through some very, very significant challenges.' She predicted that the impact from ending the program wouldn't stop with the families who rely on Head Start. 'If Head Start isn't there, if this program were to shut down, surely there'll be tremendous cascading economic impacts in our communities,' Mauer said. 'I think for most of the families, it would create a huge labor disruption. With no safe place to have your kids while you're at work, it'll create a disaster. Fears for the survival of Head Start are escalating as the state's overall child care sector is increasingly under strain. As many as 25% of child care centers in a survey released April 10 said they could close without continuing support in the next state budget. April Mullins-Datko is Head Start director for ADVOCAP, a social service agency serving Fond du Lac, Winnebago and Green Lake counties. She said that the agency's four Head Start centers would likely not survive the loss of federal support. 'We would lose services for the 202 children we serve,' Mullins-Datko said. 'It would exacerbate the child care crisis we have in our communities, which then has negative impacts on our available workforce.' I think for most of the families, it would create a huge labor disruption. With no safe place to have your kids while you're at work, it'll create a disaster. – Jennie Mauer, Wisconsin Head Start Association executive director ADVOCAP's centers include three in Fond du Lac County and one in Green Lake County, with 193 families relying on the program for the care and early education of their children. 'Ninety-three percent of my families are working or going to school full time,' Mullins-Datko said. The agency's Head Start federal contract is supposed to be good through Dec. 31, 2028, Mullins-Datko said, but with reports of defunding she fears that won't be honored: 'There just doesn't seem to be any kind of adherence to law and contracts.' Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council provides social services in Buffalo, Jackson, Trempealeau and Eau Claire counties in West Central Wisconsin. The agency's programs include nine Head Start centers enrolling 442 children. Of those, 382 children are in preschool and 60 are in Early Head Start, for children from birth to age 3, said Thanh Bui-Duquette, Western Dairyland's Head Start director. Three centers are in cities — two in Eau Claire and one in Altoona — but the rest are in rural communities. 'We meet the needs of each individual community,' Bui-Duquette said. 'The needs of the urban Eau Claire area look very different from rural Trempealeau County.' Even with jobs, 96% of the families with children in Western Dairyland's program have incomes below the federal poverty guideline. For children from those families, she said, Head Start has been demonstrated to improve long-term outcomes — increasing the chances of graduating from high school and going on to higher education, and reducing the chances of ending up in the criminal justice system. 'It's important to have that solid foundation early on, especially for children from disadvantaged families,' Bui-Duquette said. The news that Head Start is in the crosshairs of budget-writers in the Trump administration follows other jolts to the program in the last two months. In late January and early February, Head Start operators reported widespread problems in their efforts to collect standard payments from the federal government. Under Head Start contracts, programs incur an expense then submit documentation through a federal online portal to get reimbursed. Head Start programs reported that payments stalled, for nearly two weeks in some cases, without explanation. Payments have since resumed, but Mauer said directors are reporting demands for more information holding up payments. 'They're getting substantial delays for things that are accepted expenses, which is concerning,' she said. On April 1, Head Start operators learned that the program's five regional offices across the country were closed without any advance notice, including the Chicago office that serves Wisconsin and five other states in the Upper Midwest. Those events and the report that the program could be defunded have rattled Head Start employees and the parents who have counted on the program, operators say. 'Families and staff are both really scared and concerned,' said Bailey, the Reach Dane director. 'Families are reaching out, worried the program is going to close, asking, 'Is my child still going to be able to go to school?'' Reach Dane's human resources staff has been interviewing applicants for teaching jobs in the coming school year, and applicants are nervous about whether the job will exist, she added. Bailey said the program is trying to be transparent with employees and families about the uncertainty and fight for the program's survival, all without sparking panic. 'Trying to figure out how to navigate and inform folks when there's no communication is a hard place to be,' she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Head Start providers shocked as federal office serving Wisconsin shuts without notice
Children at The Playing Field, a Madison child care center that participates in the federal Head Start program. (Courtesy of The Playing Field) Head Start child care providers in Wisconsin and five other Midwestern states were stunned Tuesday to learn that the federal agency's Chicago regional office was closed and their administrators were placed on leave — throwing new uncertainty into the operation of the 60-year-old child care and early education program. 'The Regional Office is a critical link to maintaining program services and safety for children and families,' said Jenny Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, in a statement distributed to news organizations Tuesday afternoon. The surprise shutdown of the federal agency's Chicago office — and four others across the country — left Head Start program directors uncertain about where to turn, Mauer said. 'We have received calls throughout the day from panicked Head Start programs worried about impacts to approving their current grants, fiscal issues, and applications to make their programs more responsive to their local communities,' Mauer said. The regional offices are part of the Office of Head Start in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In an interview, Mauer said there had been no official word to Head Start providers about the Chicago office closing. Some program leaders learned of the closing from private contacts with people in the office. 'We have not seen official information come out' to local Head Start directors, who operate on the federal grants that fund the program, Mayer said. 'It's just really alarming. For an agency that is about serving families, I don't understand how this can be.' The National Head Start Association issued a press release Tuesday expressing 'deep concern' about the regional office closings. 'In order to avoid disrupting services for children and families, we urge the administration to reconsider these actions until a plan has been created and shared widely,' the association stated. Katie Hamm, the deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development at HHS during the Biden administration, posted on LinkedIn shortly before 12 noon Tuesday that she had learned of reduction-in-force (RIF) notices to employees in the Administration for Children and Families earlier in the day. RIF notices appear to have gone to all employees of the Office of Head Start and the Office of Child Care in five regional offices, Hamm wrote, in Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle in addition to Chicago. 'Staff are on paid leave effective immediately and no longer have access to their files,' Hamm wrote. 'There does not appear to be a transition plan so that Head Start grantees, States, and Tribes are assigned to a new office. For Head Start, it is unclear who will administer grants going forward.' Hamm left HHS at the end of the Biden administration in January, according to her LinkedIn profile. Mauer said regional office employees 'are our key partners and colleagues,' and their departure has left Head Start operators 'incredibly saddened and deeply concerned.' Regional employees work with providers 'to ensure the safety and quality of services and to meet the mission of providing care for the most vulnerable families in the country,' Mauer said. The regional offices provide grant oversight, distribute funds, monitor Head Start programs and advise centers on complying with regulations, including for child safety, she said. They also provide training and technical assistance for local Head Start programs. 'The Regional Office is a critical link to maintaining program services and safety for children and families,' Mauer said. 'These cuts will have a direct impact on programs, children, and families.' In addition to Wisconsin, the Chicago regional office oversees programs in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota. Head Start supervises about 284 grants across the six states in programs that enroll about 115,000 children, according to Mauer. There are 39 Head Start providers in Wisconsin enrolling about 16,000 children and employing about 4,000 staff. The federal government created Head Start in the mid-1960s to provide early education for children living in low-income households. Head Start operators report that the vast majority of the families they serve rely on the program to provide child care so they can hold jobs. The regional office closings came two months after a sudden halt in Head Start funding. Head Start operators get a federal reimbursement after they incur expenses, and program directors have been accustomed to being able to submit their expenses and receive reimbursement payments through an online portal. Over about two weeks in late January and early February, program leaders in Wisconsin and across the country reported that they were unable to log into the system or post their payment requests. The glitches persisted for some programs for several days, but were ultimately resolved by Feb. 10. Mauer told the Wisconsin Examiner on Tuesday that so far, there have not been new payment delays. But there has also been no communication with Head Start operators about what happens now with the unexpected regional office closings, she said. 'No plan for who will provide support has been shared, and the still-existing regional offices are already understaffed,' Mauer said. 'I'm very nervous to see what happens. With no transition plan this will be a disaster.' In her statement, Mauer said the regional office closing was 'another example of the Federal Administration's continuing assault on Head Start' following the earlier funding freeze and stalled reimbursements. She said closing regional offices was undermining the program's ability to function. 'We call on Congress to immediately investigate this blatant effort to hamper Head Start's ability to provide services,' Mauer stated, 'and to hold the Administration accountable for their actions.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Head Start funding freeze: The panic was the point
Children at The Playing Field, a Madison child care center that participates in the federal Head Start program. (Courtesy of The Playing Field) On Jan. 27, the Trump administration called for federal agencies to implement a sweeping freeze on large amounts of grants, loans and other assistance, creating widespread panic across the country — particularly for families dependent on Head Start for child care. More than a week into the freeze, many of Wisconsin's Head Start programs still can't access the funds they need to stay open. Head Start provides funding to local organizations to run free, comprehensive preschool and early learning programs for families living in poverty. Many of the local organizations, or grantees, running these programs also provide child care services to families who receive child care subsidies and parents who pay for child care without assistance. Wisconsin has 39 Head Start providers serving 16,000 children and employing 4,500 staff across the state. Reach Dane's Head Start program in Madison is one of many Wisconsinites rely on. The day after the announcement, Jen Bailey, executive director of the program, said her program and others were unable to access funds because their payment management system was shut down. She described the overwhelming chaos and fear that morning as she wondered how to keep this vital service afloat. The Trump administration initially said this freeze was necessary to ensure funding aligns with the president's priorities. Normally, Jen and her staff would have a direct line of communication to the federal Office of Head Start, but when the freeze was announced she described a lack of communication with the federal government — leaving her and her staff to rely on news articles and press conferences to glean any insight into the meaning of the mayhem. Across Wisconsin, on the first morning of the freeze, parents received emails from their child care providers warning of potential closures to programs. On Tuesday afternoon, the Trump administration walked back its initial inclusion of Head Start in the government-wide freeze. But some programs had already made the decision to close their doors Wednesday — leaving parents scrambling to find potential backups for child care and wondering if they would be able to go to work. Program staff at those centers were also unsure if their next paychecks would be delayed or if they even still had jobs. As of Tuesday, Feb. 4, seven providers serving roughly 3,000 children had still not received funding from the federal government since the freeze went into effect. The National Head Start Association reported that the funding issues are widespread across the country. At least 45 Head Start grantees serving nearly 20,000 young children are still having problems accessing their funds. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be the last time Wisconsin families dependent on these programs experience uncertainty and even panic under the current administration. The radical far-right playbook Project 2025 proposed eliminating Head Start entirely, which would increase the number of Americans living in a child care desert and particularly harm child care supply in rural communities. If the leaders in the Trump Administration who helped author Project 2025 had it their way, no Head Start programs would be opening their doors to the vulnerable families in need of services. Fifty-four percent of young children under the age of 5 in Wisconsin live in a child care desert, and the high cost of child care pushes 134,000 families across the U.S. into poverty every year. What Wisconsin parents and families need now is to know that their current child care arrangements are secure while policymakers work on solutions to build supply and bring costs down. Over a week since the publication of the freeze memo, it's obvious the stress and harm inflicted on families and providers was created not only thoughtlessly, but needlessly. It's been hard to keep track of all the walk-backs and attempts at 'clarification' from the Trump administration that only sowed more confusion. Most recently, the administration announced it was rescinding the freeze memo after a judge had blocked the spending freeze. That about-face came less than 48 hours after the same administration sent federal programs and the people dependent on them into a tailspin. So what was all the chaos and confusion for? The frantically mixed messages from the Trump administration tell us the president and the people working for him spend very little time thinking through how their actions will affect everyday Americans, especially parents. When you play unnecessary games with trillions of dollars in federal funding that millions of people depend on, real people suffer. We're barely two weeks into this new administration. How many more threats to their livelihood can Wisconsin families and providers like Jen expect over the next four years? SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Head Start child care funds stop for some providers, leaving them hanging
Children outside with a child care teacher at The Playing Field, a Madison child care center that participates in the federal Head Start program. (Courtesy of The Playing Field) More than half a dozen child care centers that serve low-income families through the federal Head Start program have been waiting for more than a week to be repaid for expenses they've already incurred for payroll, supplies and food for the children in their care. Head Start and Early Head Start are federally funded programs that provide early education and child care to children from low-income families. Wisconsin has 39 Head Start child care providers serving 16,000 children across the state and employing about 4,500 staff, said Jenny Mauer, executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association. 'The chaos and uncertainty have been deeply earth-shattering,' Mauer told the Wisconsin Examiner on Tuesday. Mauer said providers across the state who receive federal grant payments for Head Start have seen delays in receiving their payments. She has been in touch with all 39 and, as of Tuesday, there were seven providers serving about 3,000 children that haven't been paid by the federal government for at least a week, she said. 'This is going to get really serious if this doesn't get resolved soon,' Mauer said. 'We're not getting much in the way of answers. We're not getting good explanations about anything. It's incredibly frustrating.' The Head Start payments stopped at the same time that a Trump administration memo announced a week ago that a broad array of federal grant and loan payments would be suspended. Two federal judges have ordered the White House to halt the suspension in payments, but there have been widespread reports of funds that have still not been released. 'People think the freeze is over,' said Rep. Andrew Hysell (D-Sun Prairie), whose district includes a child care provider affected and who posted a Facebook video decrying the federal action. 'Yet these [federal] agencies are not providing the funds.' The National Head Start Association, a membership organization for Head Start child care providers, has reported similar problems across the country. 'We're definitely not alone, that's for sure,' Mauer said. Reach Dane, a Madison child care agency that provides child care for about 1,000 children in Dane and Green counties, is waiting on $600,000 that the nonprofit is due from Head Start, said Jen Bailey, Reach Dane's executive director. The organization had to tap into its bank line of credit after payments failed to come through in the last week. The funds are needed to make payroll for Reach Dane's staff of 250, including child care teachers, people in food service and bus drivers who pick up and drop off children in the program. 'We're kind of flying blind in a chaos storm, trying to figure out what is happening and why,' said Bailey, who is also president of the Wisconsin Head Start Association board. Federal payments to Head Start programs are reimbursements for expenses providers have already incurred. Providers are accustomed to logging into a federal portal, submitting the expense information and receiving a reimbursement in about 24 hours. Reach Dane typically submits its requests for payment once a week or so, Bailey said. A week ago Monday, Reach Dane was unable to log in to the portal at all, however. Late Tuesday, Jan. 28, the portal was once again accessible, and Reach Dane submitted a payment request. A second payment request was submitted on Friday, Jan. 31. 'We have not received either of those,' Bailey said Tuesday. 'As of right now both still show as pending in the system.' In addition to serving Head Start children through its own child care centers, Reach Dane also works with private child care providers who enroll children from low-income families. One private partner is The Playing Field, a nonprofit that operates two child care centers in Madison, one of them on the city's West Side where the enrollment includes Head Start children. Reach Dane pays The Playing Field monthly to cover its Head Start kids. Participating in Head Start is part of The Playing Field's mission, said Abbi Kruse, who founded The Playing Field a decade ago with the goal of creating 'an early childhood education program that any family would choose for their child.' From the start the organization's model was to enroll children 'from really different socio-economic and racial backgrounds,' she said, overcoming segregation in all its forms. At the West Side location, enrollment is about one-third children on scholarship, one-third children whose parents can afford the full cost, and one-third who are covered under Head Start or Early Head Start. 'Without that funding, they could not attend our program,' Kruse said. 'Without that funding, we definitely could not sustain our model.' Providers, families spread the word in the Capitol for Evers' child care investment Kruse said that Reach Dane sends a Head Start payment once a month to The Playing Field, which received the February payment on Monday. But if Reach Dane can't resume receiving its federal funds, 'obviously that's not sustainable for them to continue doing that,' she said. Some of the children served by her organization are from families living in shelters, sleeping in cars or hotels for the unhoused, for example, Kruse said. They may rely on The Playing Field not just for child care but for meals and other support, such as parenting classes. 'There's a lot of support for families in our model, and to rip that away from people is just cruel,' Kruse said. Mauer said that providers unable to collect the federal funds they're due are scrambling to meet the shortfall. The federal government requires that recipients must disburse the money they get within three days after collecting it. 'They're not sitting on a set of federal reserves to pay people,' Mauer said. 'This is money for service already rendered.' Providers who are on the hook for funds 'are doing everything they can to keep their doors open,' she said. 'They're talking to creditors, they've opened up lines of credit, they're talking to community partners and moving things around.' If Head Start providers don't survive, the impact on employers could be severe. 'The majority of folks that come to Head Start are working families,' Mauer said. Without child care, 'that would mean those parents would have to make tough choices. It's a terrible situation.' 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