KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The federal government has reopened, but the clock is still ticking on funding talks.
It also has local businesses scrambling to get things in order with the possibility of another shutdown on the horizon.
The past few weeks have been difficult for Tomlin Academy Early Childhood Center in Kansas City. Owner and operator Shantelle Tomlin said of the 84 children enrolled at the center, many of their parents are government workers and unable to pay tuition.
Getting tuition paid was not as big of a worry for Tomlin as feeding her students.
"For our state subsidy, we didn't know if the money would run out and that was a concern for me," said Tomlin.
Tomlin Academy is part of the Child and Adult Care Food Program, a federal program that reimburses day cares at the end of each month for providing healthy food and snacks to kids. It also covers the payroll for the cook and administrative assistant that logs what the kids eat on a daily basis.
In Missouri, there are more than 200 day care facilities enrolled in the food program.
"That's a substantial amount of income that could or could not have been coming into the facility and so I was very concerned about that," said Tomlin.
Tomlin said she was notified that Tomlin Academy would be reimbursed for January, but she is still concerned moving forward.
"For me, I'm going to continue to act as if the shutdown is still in place because we don't know what might happen in three weeks, they may not be able to come to an agreement," said Tomlin.
Tomlin had parents send their kids to school with snacks. She's also paid several bills months in advance to ensure any money left over can be used for food if needed.
