The government shutdown ended on Nov. 12, becoming the longest government shutdown in U.S. history at 43 days. The previous record was 35 days in 2018. But how did these 45 days of the government shutdown affect us?
“Really, any of the effects that we have tend to be delayed by a little bit when something like that happens. So the biggest impact for us is any federal funding or federal grants that we had are delayed. Now, normally, those operate on somewhat of a delay anyway,” Mr. William Deal, Director of Teaching and Learning and Interim Director of Student Services, said.
“Our Title I funding and everything like that, that was technically put on hold. But for what most people are seeing, it was kind of business as usual,” Mr. Deal said. Title 1 funding is federal money allocated to public schools and school districts to help students from low-income families meet state academic standards. We haven’t really been affected by the education department not functioning due to the government shutdown.
“We’ve been impacted much more by the fact that the state hasn’t passed a budget yet. So that is having a much bigger impact on our day-to-day operations than the government shutdown has, because we’re still waiting on funding that we should have gotten that has not come through yet, and we’re just operating on kind of budgetary assumptions of what has happened last year. So really, the federal government, the Federal Department of Education… they’re sort of at arm’s length, and they have some regulatory authority, but they’re not as impactful to our day-to-day operations,” Mr. Deal said.
On Nov. 12, PA state governor Josh Shapiro signed the Pennsylvania state budget. It is a nearly $50 billion budget, which is expected to send billions to public schools, according to WTAE. SNAP benefits expiring could have had an impact on the families in Freedom.
“So I think if you follow the news cycle at all, one of the big things that folks were concerned about was the SNAP benefits expiring. So that has an impact on us, not in terms of day-to-day operations, but it has an impact on us in terms of, now this is something that’s going to be affecting students and families that attend here. So how do we, as a school district or community, try to address those needs, even though they’re not directly impacting the educational function that we serve? So we know that if kids are hungry, we know that if kids are worried about having their needs met at home, then that’s going to impact the quality of the education that they get here and how much they pay attention. We’ve already had board members talking about holding a food drive and trying to get some supplies in so that families that are in need can have those needs met,” Mr. Deal said.
After six weeks of the impasse that forced thousands of federal workers to go without paychecks, threatened access to food benefits to millions, and caused air travel disruptions across the country, the government began to reopen Thursday morning as furloughed employees returned to work and agencies ramped up normal operations, according to CBS News. The legislation extends funding for most agencies until Jan. 30 and includes three bills that fund other parts of the government through September 2026. Back pay for some federal employees will begin going out as early as Sunday, according to a memo from the White House budget office. Others will have to wait until Wednesday, Nov. 19. With the shutdown finally behind us, it seems that another event is around the corner, with the Senate looking to debate about healthcare.
