The Sequatchie Valley Head Start program in Jasper is the latest area organization to see impacts from federal funding cuts.
According to a notice sent to parents, the early childhood program is experiencing delays in funding after an executive order allowing the Department of Government Efficiency to review how the organization receives funding.
The notice informed parents of a possible temporary closure that would have begun Monday due to the funding delays. But Elaine Duke, director of Sequatchie Valley Head Start, said the funding needed to remain open was deposited into the organization’s account when she arrived at work Wednesday.
Sequatchie Valley Head Start experiencing funding delays from DOGE review
The funding, $125,000 for payroll, will allow the organization to continue operations.
“We have notified our staff that we will not be laying them off and that we will remain open to serve our children and our families,” Duke said in a phone interview.
The immediate threat of a temporary closure is gone, but Duke is not sure if this delay will be a recurring issue each time the organization applies for payroll funding.
“We’re going to start paying our employees weekly,” Duke said. “Therefore, if this happens again, we will feel more confident that we can continue to pay them and not have to be in this loop of, ‘Are we going to need to lay off and temporarily close?'”
(READ MORE: No Social Security offices in Chattanooga area listed in DOGE cuts)
The administration at Sequatchie Valley Head Start has contacted U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Sherwood, and Tennessee U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty to notify them of the issues the organization has been encountering.
DesJarlais’ office informed Duke that there is a backlog in the manual approval system that is causing a delay in processing payment management system requests.
(READ MORE: Chattanooga Area Food Bank hit hard by federal funding cuts)
When Head Start accrues expenses — payroll, utility costs and rent — the administration goes into the payment management system, run by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, and requests the funding be deposited into the organization’s checking account, Duke said. That request included a brief summary of what the funding was to be used for.
The system, when running smoothly, deposits the funding the next day. This time, the payroll funding that Head Start applied for appeared in the organization’s account a day late, Duke said, and she is still waiting on another $12,000 for general operating costs, which she applied for April 10.
After an executive order authorized DOGE to identify fraud and waste before money is released, Duke began receiving emails from a “Defend the Spend” email address with the Department of Health and Human Services domain, she said. The emails include a link to a DOGE site requiring Duke to give a more specific description of what the funding request is for, Duke said.
The chief financial officer for Sequatchie Valley Head Start contacted the payment management system Tuesday when the requested payroll funding had not appeared in the account and was told the reviews were in response to the executive order, Duke said.
Federal decisions began to rattle Head Start mere days after the inauguration, when the Trump administration announced it would freeze federal grants, The Associated Press reported earlier this month. The freezes, though canceled shortly after, brought glitches in the same payment management website that Sequatchie Valley is experiencing delays with.
The glitches in January did not affect the Sequatchie Valley program but forced nearly two dozen Head Start organizations to temporarily close while waiting for funding to be restored, AP reported. Now, mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services are also making operating the program difficult.
The difficulties come after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited a Head Start program in Gum Springs, Virginia, in March.
“I had a very inspiring tour,” Kennedy said in a video posted to the department’s social media. “They’re getting the kind of education and socialization that they need,” he said of the students.
Contact Kailee Shores at kshores@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.