Head Start, a free learning program for children from low-income families, is next on the chopping block as the government shutdown nears record length.

More than 100 Head Start programs are in danger of closing soon or already shuttering some operations after funding didn’t come on a Saturday deadline.

“There's both the effect on young children and the effect on their parents and families and the broader community,” said Melissa Boteach, chief policy officer of Zero to Three.

“This is high-quality early education that includes a lot of wrap-around services and early screening, all kinds of things that help kids to have the strongest possible start,” Boteach added. “It's also a really important form of child care ... You have a work commitment, and, all of a sudden, you've come to find out that because Congress has not opened the government, that you don't have child care on Monday.”

Nationwide, Head Start serves more than 750,000 children. Last year, the federal government provided $12 billion to the programs.

That money was distributed to 1,600 different grant recipients nationwide, and the programs have different........

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