21st Century Community Learning Funding Increased $100 Million

President Bush recently signed the omnibus-spending bill that included a $100 million increase for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, bringing the total appropriation for the program to $1.1 billion. Although this is still a fraction of the original appropriation for the 21st CCLC program under the No Child Left Behind Act which called for $2.5 billion annually for after school programs, according to the Afterschool Alliance, this will result in access to after school programs for an additional 100,000 children across the United States in fiscal year 2008.