If the government shutdown drags on Head Start in Spokane could suffer as the pre-school program for kids is already seeing the effects of the shutdown across the country.
The reason why thousands of kids are having to stay home or go to other daycare is because those programs started their fiscal year the day after the shutdown. So basically they did not receive funding and won't until the shutdown ends.
The sudden change in child care can be difficult for families. Patty Allen, the director of Head Start in Spokane says the fiscal year for them starts November 1, meaning they are fully funded through October.
If the shutdown drags on they could close next month.
"I think the worry is, how long is this going to last because if it continues for us into November it's likely that our families will be impacted and our staff and our community," Allen said.
Head Start Spokane serves 635 children in ten locations. They also have 204 kids in early Head Start.
The program has already been hit by the federal government with the sequestration. Because of the sequestration they lost funding that meant they lost the ability to serve 40 kids. It's also made their wait lists longer and resulted in cutting some resources.