FEBRUARY 2021: SHAPING THE PROPOSED FUNDING FOR EXPANDED LEARNING

Governor Newsom's fast-tracked budget proposal for $4.6 billion in expanded learning time and academic intervention grants is currently being negotiated in the Legislature. The goal is to get funds to schools this spring so they can provide learning opportunities this summer. CA3 submitted our letter of recommendations to budget leaders and staff in advance of a Senate budget subcommittee meeting. CA3 also submitted a letter urging the Legislature to require partnerships with community-based expanded learning providers.

In addition, a coalition of 60 civil rights, advocacy, community, parent, and student organizations sent a letter urging the Legislature to rapidly fund evidence-based summer and restorative expanded learning opportunities to benefit the students who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

JANUARY 2021: Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM ANNOUNCES HIS CALIFORNIA BUDGET PROPOSAL

California Governor Gavin Newsom released his 2021-2022 budget proposal, which includes $4.6 billion for expanded learning time, including afterschool and summer learning programs, and academic intervention grants to help address learning loss due to the pandemic. The California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3) issued this statement in response.

On November 25, 2020, CA3 sent the following letter to the office of Governor Gavin Newsom, urging him to support afterschool programs in 2021-22:

RE: 2021-22 priorities to support the needs of students and working families

Dear Governor Newsom:

The California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3) is a network of expanded learning (afterschool and summer) providers and child advocacy organizations, representing the interests of the 980,000 students enrolled at over 4,500 expanded learning programs in the highest poverty communities in California.

In the midst of multiple and intersecting crises—the public health crisis of COVID-19, the resulting economic crisis, and a long-standing crisis of injustice and systemic oppression of Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)-- students, families, and their communities have counted on expanded learning programs for critical support. When the COVID-19 crisis hit and shelter-in-place orders went into effect, the expanded learning workforce quickly pivoted and stretched to serve kids, families, and schools in new ways. As we restart and reinvent schools, expanded learning (afterschool and summer) programs and their workforce will be essential to mitigate the short-term and long-term effects of these intersecting crises:

Foundational needs: Food, connectivity, health resources

Expanded learning programs often function as resource and information hubs for students and their families. During COVID-19, expanded learning programs have stepped up to deliver crucial resources and referrals to meet basic student and family needs. Programs:

  • Coordinate and staff meal distribution centers for families to continue to access the nutritious meals and snacks they rely on from the school day and expanded learning programs;

  • Deliver electronic devices necessary for distance learning and provide technical assistance to students and families as they use various platforms and interfaces;

  • Connect families with health centers, free COVID-19 testing, and other services; and

  • Are a pillar of community schools and wraparound services to support the whole child.

Social-emotional well-being

Expanded learning programs are proven to advance students’ social and emotional well-being and boost participation in school. With students experiencing extreme social disconnection and trauma, the staff of expanded learning programs are vital.

  • 30,000 caring and trained expanded learning staff, often from the communities they serve, provide consistent and trusted connections with students and their families;

  • Staff conduct one-on-one wellness checks, especially with students who are showing signs of high stress or trauma or students who have disengaged during distance learning; and

  • Programs help youth develop their voice, make change, and lead. Civic engagement is particularly critical for older youth in today’s climate.

Mitigating learning loss

Expanded learning programs are proven to improve students’ reading and math performance and reduce chronic absence, leading to higher graduation rates. Expanded learning staff are trained to mitigate learning loss.

  • Normally, a student can receive up to an additional 540 hours of learning time, tutoring, and STEAM activities each year through their afterschool program;

  • Many programs run summer learning programs aimed to reduce the summer slide (learning loss), which will be pivotal in 2021 and the years to come;

  • Staff work in partnership with teachers and schools to engage students and boost school day attendance and have been particularly successful with improving educational outcomes for English Language Learners, as highlighted in CDE’s latest report to the Legislature; and

  • CDE and the System of Support for Expanded Learning (SSEL) are providing technical assistance to build the capacity of programs to meet the varying and urgent needs of students.

Supervision and care for young learners

Expanded learning programs are part of the child care continuum essential to allow families, especially women, to return to the workforce. Programs and their workforce:

  • Care for students from Transitional Kindergarten and up, normally serving nearly 400,000 elementary and middle school students a day so their parents or guardians can work, look for work, or get education and training;

  • Were called to serve on the frontlines to supervise and provide in-person support to students of essential workers, students experiencing homelessness or in the foster system, and other students facing learning challenges with distance learning;

  • Follow state and local health safety protocols to provide a safe space for students during the school day and beyond, even while most classrooms have been closed for instruction; and

  • Have temporary flexibility to reduce the student to staff ratio (normally 20:1) to allow for physical distancing and cohorting.

Educational equity

California’s expanded learning programs are proven to help close the academic and opportunity gaps for the students and families who have been hit hardest by the current crises.

  • 9 out of 10 kids in California’s expanded learning programs are children of color. 84% of families are economically disadvantaged. 1 in 4 kids are English learners. 25% of California’s homeless student population are served by expanded learning programs;

  • Programs support childrens’ growth and learning academically, socially, and emotionally;

  • Staff often reflect the experiences and backgrounds of the students they serve. On average, 70% of staff are people of color and we know that educators of color help close the achievement gaps for students of color, especially in high-poverty environments; and

  • Most expanded learning staff have long-term career goals and skills to succeed in teaching in and outside of the classroom. As State Board of Education President Linda Darling Hammond said, “California is well-positioned to leverage its infrastructure of after school and summer learning programs to build the capacity of the next generation of teachers.”

Challenges in 2021-22

California’s expanded learning programs and workforce are essential partners for schools and communities and are key to the state’s recovery. However, the 2020-21 May Revision Budget proposed a 15% cut that would have decimated the state’s expanded learning system. A $100 million proposed cut to After School Education & Safety (ASES) programs was coupled with a devastating reimbursement rate cut. That proposal would have reduced the state reimbursement from $8.88 to $7.50 per child per day, back to 2006-07 levels. Under that proposal, many programs would become financially insolvent and shut down across the state, leaving vulnerable students and families without services at a time when they are needed most. Nearly 100 organizations including school districts, community-based nonprofits, child and equity advocates, and cities, came together this year to oppose the proposed cut to ASES (letter attached).

Expanded learning programs and the students and families they serve cannot shoulder a funding cut or reimbursement rate reduction in 2021-22. Similar to most education and care programs, quality staff is the most important factor in expanded learning program quality. With the state minimum wage at $13, soon to be $14, programs struggle to pay their essential staff with less than $3 an hour from the state. Taking more funding away from this system will hurt California’s most vulnerable students and their families.

To provide essential support to students and working families and better coordinate the full system of care and learning for children, we recommend the following actions in 2021-22:

  • Provide funding to sustain After School Education & Safety (ASES) programs in 2021-22 so existing programs can continue to provide essential services and support to the hundreds of thousands of students and families that have been hit hardest this year;

  • Extend temporary flexibility granted to meet urgent and changing school and community needs (i.e. waived student to staff ratios to meet cohorting requirements or recommended physical distancing; programs are not penalized for lower attendance, and hours of operation are flexed or extended so programs can support students during the school day;

  • Support policy changes to sustain, coordinate, and leverage the full system of care and learning for children:

    • Remove specific afterschool and summer program funding reimbursement rates from California’s education code and establish a data and stakeholder-driven process to set the daily reimbursement rates for expanded learning programs based on annual funding levels set by the Legislature and Governor;

    • Ensure expanded learning programs, serving kids as young as 5 years old, are included in the Master Plan for Early Learning and Care so that more families can be better served based on their unique needs;

  • Ensure that the expanded learning workforce is included in a high priority group for COVID-19 vaccine access, with essential child care providers, teachers, and school staff.

  • Invest learning loss mitigation funds or other one-time funding in expanded learning programs to serve more children and youth in the hardest-hit communities during the summer of 2021 and into the 2021-22 school year; and

  • Designate one-time funding to provide professional learning supports and materials to expanded learning providers on social and emotional learning and learning loss mitigation.

We look forward to continued work with you and your office in service of California’s most vulnerable students and working families. If you need any additional information about our recommendations, please contact Jen Dietrich at jdietrich@partnerforchildren.org or (510) 830-4200 x1615.

Sincerely,

California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance

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