Federal Shutdown Raises Concerns Over Childcare Funding

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A brief pause in federal funding left early learning centers across Ohio scrambling to maintain operations, prompting school leaders in Columbus to call for more stable childcare funding to prevent future disruptions.

During the freeze, some early childcare programs closed while others struggled to stay open. Staff at the Columbus Early Learning Center said families and educators felt the effects immediately.

Antywanna Williams, a teacher’s aide whose son attends the center, said the uncertainty would deeply affect young children if access to schools were suddenly cut off.

“How do you explain to your four-year-old that there is no school?” Williams said. “You have to wait until you’re five years old to go to kindergarten.” 

Williams said the situation also raised concerns about her own job security and what a shutdown would mean for her family. She said her work is rooted in close relationships with the children in her classroom and their families, and losing that stability would affect them as much as it would affect her.

Columbus Early Learning Centers CEO Gina Ginn said the funding pause highlighted how dependent early learning providers are on federal dollars and how vulnerable families become when that support stalls. She said the instability also carries a broader economic cost.

“We are missing out in the state of Ohio on $5.4 billion a year in our economy because families can’t go to work because they can’t find affordable, high-quality childcare,” Ginn said.

Ginn said the disruption underscored the need to treat childcare as core infrastructure—similar to roads, water systems and K–12 schools—so centers can withstand fluctuations in federal support. Without stable options, she said, families face long-term barriers.

“It really is the foundation and the backbone of families being able to work. And then also create pathways out of poverty,” she said.

School leaders said they are now evaluating how local funding structures could be modernized to prevent future shocks to early learning programs.