On October 1st, 2025, the United States experienced its 21st government shutdown. A government shutdown is when Congress fails to pass any funding legislation signed by the president. This causes the “nonessential” federal government operations to halt. 

Some of those “nonessential” operations include national parks, museums, and monuments possibly closing or having limited services. Passports and visa processing are possibly being delayed. Small business administration loans may be suspended. Federal research labs may stop work, and the IRS may have to stop processing tax returns. 

This is all because of the administration’s forced limited spending and prioritizing of operations that the president declares important and necessary for public safety and national security. Such things include the military, law enforcement and emergency services, and mandatory spending programs. (This includes social security, Medicare and Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits and payments.) According to Anthony Zurcher and James FitzGerald from a BBC article, staff levels have dropped as much as 50% as many workers are calling out sick and making a point to not go to work.

So what does this mean for Roosevelt?

Essentially nothing. 

Public high schools are funded by state and local budgets, and Roosevelt has a stable cushion of funding to work with. Federal funding accounts for a very small percentage of K-12 education budgets. Though in the case of a very prolonged shutdown, the lines start to get blurred, and the idea of district budgets becoming strained starts to come into play. 

While talk of when the government plans to reopen ends with unanswered questions, students can feel sure that school is a place that will continue to be a constant in day-to-day life. This time can certainly be confusing, and no questions are stupid questions! As far as any update, CBS News’ Kaia Hubbard wrote on the morning of the 13th, “The stalemate over how to reopen the government will extend into a third week with no resolution in sight.”