Unfortunately, in many communities across the country, some children will not be showing up for school this year (2013). Classrooms will shut down and teachers will look for other employment opportunities. This school year, approximately 57,000 of our youngest children in the Head Start program will not be going back to school. The cuts are the result of sequestration. In March 2013 a sequester order canceled billions in federal funds, which included millions of dollars cut to the Head Start program. When programs close their doors, children who attend them lose out on access to high-quality early learning opportunities, families are not able to work without access to child care, and staff are left looking for jobs. Sequestration is moving the country away from economic recovery. In the Head Start program alone, sequestration is costing tens of thousands of jobs and denying the youngest and most vulnerable citizens the benefits of a high-quality early learning program. This author contends that, rather than across-the-board cuts, Congress and the administration should focus on strategic investments in areas that will grow the economy and the workforce over the long term. Early childhood education offers both a short-term payoff by creating jobs and an opportunity to improve the workforce for the next generation.