Boulder Elementary may be forced to end its popular, two-decade-old afterschool program following a multi-billion-dollar cut to the national education budget.
The Trump administration last week announced the withholding of $6.8 billion in federal education funds, including $1.4 billion for 10,000 before- and after-school initiatives across the country as part of the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers program.
To cover five years of its 21st Century program, the Boulder Elementary Consortium expected to receive just under $250,000 from the state on July 1, the fiscal start date for the coming school year. But the funds did not arrive and are not expected anytime soon, according to 21st CCLC Program Director Kassie Nordlinder. “We’re basically in a holding pattern,” she said about the afterschool funds the school had received since 2003.
The U.S. Department of Education memo to states said the relevant programs are under review, with no mention of its review objective or expected completion date. As a result, states have begun warning districts that they will receive significantly less funding than expected for legally required programs during the school year that starts next month.
Boulder Elementary’s 21st Century program for pre-K-8 students runs for 33 weeks during the school year, keeping kids busy until 5:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday with an array of lessons and activities. Last year’s options included literacy enrichment, STEM activities, guitar club, croche, sewing, gardening, Spanish lessons, study hall and more.
Some 50-60 students attend daily, according to Nordlinder, and 170 total took part during the recently completed school year, or nearly 80% of the student body. In addition, the program provides part-time jobs for three to four Jefferson High students every year and funds Nordlinder’s full-time position.
Boulder also operates a free summer 21st Century program, which faced abrupt discontinuation until Montana’s Office of Public Instruction notified grant recipients last week it would fund those programs through their expected end dates. “Thankfully I didn’t need to call our students and staff and tell them the summer program was ending,” said Nordlinder.
The state has thus far been unable to make a similar commitment on the school-year program, which is not expected to begin when school starts in Boulder in late August. The Lowey 21st Century Learning Centers program, overseen by the Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, is the main federal funding stream for academic enrichment outside school hours.
More than 25 years old, the program provides nearly 1.4 million students across all 50 states with afterschool and summer learning support. If the funding remains blocked, “the fallout will be swift and devastating,” Boys and Girls Clubs of America CEO Jim Clark said in a statement.
Nordlinder worried about Boulder children with little to do in the late afternoon. “There’s not a lot of other options for afterschool activities, so a lot of these kids are gonna end up going home or being in front of a screen,” she said. “The school is trying to figure out what we can do to provide some activities so it’s not cold turkey.”
Nordlinder was hopeful Boulder Elementary would find the funding to support an afterschool program for a month or two, by which time some federal funds may be on the way.
“If the government decides to delay for more than that, I really don’t know what it’s going to look like here,” she said. “The school district can’t afford to fund these programs, that’s why it’s so important.”
