CA Budget: California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance Responds to Governor’s 2022-23 May Revise
While CA3 applauds the additional $403 million proposed in the Governor’s May Revise (totaling $4.8 billion in new funding) for afterschool programs, there are concrete solutions that the State must act on now to ensure the Administration’s bold vision for expanded learning succeeds.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2022 —Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom released his revised state budget proposal for the 2022-23 fiscal year. The California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3) strongly supports the Governor’s commitment to growing access to afterschool and summer learning programs through massive investments into the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P). We are particularly grateful that the Administration heard our calls for increased per-student funding and added $403 million to ELO-P to ensure students in transitional kindergarten through 6th grade who are low-income, English language learners, or in foster care (unduplicated pupils) have access to quality programs.
The $4.8 billion now proposed in the state budget will help support access to full-day, full-year instruction and enrichment for elementary school students, with a focus on schools with the highest concentrations of unduplicated pupils. For decades expanded learning programs have proven their value and impact in providing safe, supportive learning environments that increase student engagement and school-day attendance. This investment is therefore key to addressing the persistent attendance and engagement challenges California is facing. Expanded learning programs continue to be critical supports to help students, families, and communities continue to endure and recover from the pandemic.
While we are thrilled by the Administration’s forthcoming investment in education, including afterschool and summer programs, there are some details missing that are critical to serving students and families now and into the future.
These actions must be taken to ensure expanded learning programs have the capacity to serve students and families with quality programming:
1. Don’t penalize existing programs for pandemic attendance challenges – extend the pandemic flexibility on attendance for afterschool programs (through ASES and 21st CCLC) through the 2022 calendar year.
Without action, programs could lose 10-30% of funding in future years because of fluctuating attendance tied to the impact of the COVID-19 variants. If programs lose this funding, it will be very challenging for them to maintain and increase staffing levels and provide the quality support that students need and deserve.
The May Revise holds childcare and pre-kindergarten programs harmless from attendance penalties and provides additional support to LEAs, but afterschool programs have been forgotten, even though they serve the same students on the same campuses.
2. Support staff and students – ASES and 21st CCLC programs need a COLA.
ASES and 21st CCLC program providers had trouble recruiting and maintaining staff before the pandemic due to low wages. Most programs are not back to prepandemic staffing levels and the demand for expanded learning staff has grown dramatically with ELO-P. Students lose out when there are not enough staff. With fixed student-to-staff ratios, programs have no choice but to reduce the number of students they serve if they do not have enough staff.
These programs cannot offer livable or competitive wages to recruit and retain their diverse and qualified workforce with $10.18 per student, per day in state or federal funding, particularly with rising costs to operate, state minimum wage increasing to $15.50, and 8.3% inflation.
May Revise includes 6.56% cost-of-living adjustments for LCFF and most other educational programs, but ASES and 21st CCLC programs remain at $10.18 per student per day. A COLA is extremely important for programs serving middle and high school youth that are not prioritized to receive funding through the ELO-P.
3. Listen to the community and educators – Establish a statewide workgroup.
To achieve the greater goal of universal access to afterschool and summer programs, and to ensure the state’s current investment is successful and sustainable, effective planning and implementation are needed.
AB 2501 by Assemblymember Carrillo would establish the California Universal Afterschool Program Workgroup to evaluate policy and regulatory impediments to afterschool and summer programs by leveraging the experience of school administrators, students, families, and community partners, as well as data, to develop recommendations for universal access. This would ensure representation from all practitioners and interest-holders are integrated into state planning and implementation conversations, as their variety of experiences and expertise are essential to identify and address barriers to providing equitable access to quality expanded learning opportunities.
Please support AB 2501 (Carrillo) and allocate $850,000 in one-time funding to establish a short-term statewide workgroup.
For more details, see our full list of budget recommendations.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA AFTERSCHOOL ADVOCACY ALLIANCE
California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3) is the statewide voice for expanded learning, including afterschool and summer learning programs. It is the coalition behind the Save Afterschool Campaign and represents the interests of children, youth, and their families that rely on publicly funded expanded learning programs throughout California each day. ca3advocacy.com
CALIFORNIA AFTERSCHOOL ADVOCACY ALLIANCE MEMBERS
A World Fit for Kids; After-School All-Stars, Los Angeles; arc; Bay Area Community Resources; Bright Futures for Youth; California AfterSchool Network; California Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs; California School-Age Consortium; California State Alliance of YMCAs; California Teaching Fellows Foundation; Children Now; Community Youth Ministries; EDMO; EduCare Foundation; Envisioneers; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; Great Public Schools Now; Heart of Los Angeles; Keep Youth Doing Something; LA's BEST Afterschool Enrichment Program; LA Boys and Girls Clubs Collaborative; LA Conservation Corps; LA STEM Collective; Mission: Readiness; Partnership for Children & Youth; Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center; STAR Inc.; Team Prime Time; The Children's Initiative; Think Together; Woodcraft Rangers; YMCA of San Diego County
Contact: Stephanie Pollick, stephanie@partnerforchildren.org, (510) 830-4200 x1616