By Aaron Parseghian, WBZ-TV

As preschoolers boarded a yellow bus outside PACE Head Start in New Bedford, Massachusetts, staff and families worried it could be one of the last rides home for a while. 

PACE is planning on stopping transportation for kids after this weekend, as Head Start programs across the country grapple with the fast-approaching funding cliffs caused by the ongoing government shutdown. 

In the meantime, six Head Start agencies across Massachusetts are now trying to make sure they can keep their doors open if the shutdown continues through the weekend. The largely federally funded early education and family-support programs rely heavily on grants normally distributed November 1. 

"If the government shutdown extends into this weekend, those six agencies will be operating without any federal funding come Monday," said Michelle Haimowitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Head Start Association. 

Impacted programs serve 2,800 children

Haimowitz said the affected programs serve more than 2,800 children in regions including New Bedford, Lowell, Holyoke, Springfield, and Western Massachusetts. 

The grants make up about 80% of each agency's operating budget, she added, leaving programs scrambling to stay open without them. 

"These are payrolls, rent, and insurance payments," Haimowitz said. "The price tag doesn't go away because the federal government is shut down." 

"Everybody is trying to do everything they can to keep children in classrooms and families at work," Haimowitz said. "But it is incredibly difficult to operate without those federal funds." 

For parents like Donna Doyon, the potential loss is personal. She says the PACE Head Start program has been a lifeline for her and her son, allowing him a place to get educated, socialize and for her to continue working part-time. 

"It's a really sad situation," Doyon said. "It's the kids that are being hurt." 

PACE is now leaning on limited state emergency funding to keep classrooms open, money that could run out in a matter of weeks.
Haimowitz said Boston area Head Start programs are not immediately impacted because their federal grant cycle begins later in the year.