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Budget Cuts Series 2021: Elimination of After-School Funding
The Budget Cuts Series for the fiscal year 2021 continues this week. These cuts reflect what Trump and his Republican administration want to do to our country. Most of it will not be implemented because Democrats will block it. These cuts are so completely absurd that it’s no wonder Senate Budget Committee Republicans don’t want to hold a hearing on his budget.
....this annual exercise provides Trump a chance to signal his priorities -- especially important heading into an election season. And this year’s ask of Congress, much like past requests, would cut 7.8 percent from the U.S. Department of Education’s annual appropriation, and proposes to eliminate $5.6 billion in education programs.
.... for the fourth year in a row, proposes to eliminate the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, which funds local afterschool and summer learning programs in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. Loss of these funds for local programs would devastate the 1.7 million children and families who stand to lose access to afterschool as a result.
The budget proposal is a stark contrast to the strong bipartisan support for afterschool displayed in Congress.
Yes that's right - two months after Congress approved $1.25 billion for after-school funding, the White House has again called for a complete kill-off of the program. After-school programs have support across both parties in Congress, but every year since taking office Trump has proposed cutting the money.
In his past budgets, Trump has proposed to completely eliminate programs for after school and other enrichment programs.... and this year’s request is not much different, as the programs would be consolidated into the ESED Block Grant.
The budget characterizes the zeroing out of 21st CCLC funding as consolidation of 21st CCLC with nearly 30 other education programs into a new Elementary and Secondary Education for the Disadvantaged (ESED) Block Grant, which would result in the elimination of all targeted afterschool and summer learning funding. Overall the proposed budget drastically lowers elementary and secondary education funding by almost $5 billion.
The White House is ignoring decades of research showing how after-school programs help students succeed.
“Over the past year this program has resulted in over 2 million low-income students and family members having a safe place to receive academic enrichment. The students who participate in the 21st CCLC program are among the most at risk. The performance on the GPRA [Government Performance and Results Act] measures indicate that many participants are showing improved behavior and homework completion, student grades, and mathematics or reading/language arts assessment results.”
The effectiveness of Community Learning Centers funding is clear, and the impact of program elimination is clearly devastating, with thousands of students from pre-K to 12th grade in all 50 states at risk of losing access to the programs they rely on.
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