The New York State budget, completed Wednesday, includes a new $9.8 million in after-school funding in the budget of the State Education Department (SED). TASC is gratified that New York's new governor, David Paterson, joins the legislature in supporting investment in high-quality programs for kids and families.
In analyzing the budget, TASC concludes that combined funding for after-school from all state agencies and funding streams roughly holds steady with last year. This demonstrates a firm commitment by state leaders in a difficult economic climate.
It's also a reflection of the efforts of the many thousands of families, after-school providers and others who sent letters and made calls to policymakers, emphasizing the need to keep more kids safe and engaged after school. This result could not have been achieved without those efforts.
The budget includes these changes of note for after-school programs.
- Some $9.8 million in funding for after-school was added to the SED budget for the upcoming school year. Public school districts, charter schools, public and private organizations and BOCES will be invited to submit proposals to provide students with academic enrichment outside of regular school hours. Priority will go to programs that serve kids who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools, as well as schools identified as being in need of improvement.
- The Extended Day/Violence Prevention Programs, which provide tutoring, academic remediation and other services to teens, were reduced by $200,000 to $30,000,000.
- In this budget, after-school is more deeply integrated into SED's school funding mechanism through the Contracts For Excellence. The language now allows school districts to employ school funds for academic after-school programs. In the past, after-school funding was subject to SED regulations regularly reissued.
- The Office of Children and Family Services' (OCFS) Advantage AfterSchool Program was reduced by $1,005,000 to $27,195,000, to serve 27,000 kids. However in a welcome change for after-school, these funds will be allocated from the state's general fund and will not be subtracted from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, as in previous budgets.
We are gratified that this budget does not appear to represent a loss in essential services to children and families and hope that the specific attention paid to after-school in the budget is the first step in establishing a comprehensive system of quality after-school in New York State.
