The Kansas Adjutant General’s Office said the DoD STARBASE Kansas has suspended operations because of a gap in federal funding.

The STARBASE program in Kansas, which is a special program of the Adjutant General’s Department, is one of the largest programs in the nation with five sites across the state (Kansas City, Manhattan, Salina, Topeka and Wichita) and it employs 29 full-time staff members.   The program has provided hands-on 5-day STEM academies to more than 131,000 students across the state, with immersive activities in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Each year, the STARBASE program requires congressional support.   Congress is still working on a Fiscal Year 2025 budget, and it has passed a continuing resolution to fund government through mid-March.  Because of this, DoD STARBASE funding was greatly reduced from the prior year’s allocation causing a severe shortage in funds and triggering a temporary suspension of operations.

Melissa Peat, Executive Director of DoD STARBASE Kansas, said in a press release that she is confident that the program can be restarted, but nothing can be done until Congress approves a budget that will fund the more than 90 STARBASE programs across the country.