After School Policy

Budget negotiators appear to be planning to insert the Budget Conference Committee language that would put an initiative on the ballot to give the legislature the authority to cut Proposition 49 funds into Assembly Bill 1526.

As a result, it appears that this proposed initiative is likely to be considered as a stand-alone bill, rather than as part of a broader budget "trailer" bill. This is relatively good news because the Governor can veto a stand-alone bill and would not be put in a position where he'd have to agree to put Prop. 49 on the ballot in order to get other reforms/measures he is seeking.

On July 28, 2008 Network Policy Committee Co-Chair Brian Lee, Deputy Director of the California offices of Fight Crime Invest In Kids offered a telephone workshop updating participants on the latest in California after school policy. In the workshop Mr.

The State Legislature’s Budget Conference Committee composed of  members or the California State Senate and Assembly, adopted language  for a budget trailer bill that attempts to repeal the guaranteed funding  allocation in Proposition 49, the After School Education and Safety  (ASES) program, which currently funds over 3,800 after school programs  statewide. This language goes further than originally proposed by  either house of the Legislature. It would submit an initiative to the voters that would give the Legislature the  authority to substantially reduce after school funding or eliminate  the state’s after school programs altogether, although the committee stated this was not the intent of the initiative. If placed on the November Ballot and passed by California voters, the initiative would end the guaranteed continuous appropriation for ASES programs, and funding levels would be set annually by the Legislature. In order to move any further, this measure would have to be part of a budget passed by  a two-thirds vote of the full Legislature, and be signed by the  Governor, before moving to the ballot.  If passed by voters in  November, this initiative could impact 2009-2010 after-school funding.

The Governor recently released the May revision of the proposed California budget. There was no update regarding After School Education and Safety (ASES) funds in this budget revision. However, it is assumed that the Governor is still actively pursuing an opportunity to put a proposal to the voters to cut $59.6 million, or roughly 10% of ASES funding. At this time no ballot initiatives have been introduced. The last day for a legislative measure to qualify for the November ballot is June 26, 2008.

AB 2890: New Proposed Legislation Allows Allocation of ASES Funds to other Categorical Programs

Senate Bill 1492 (McClintock), a bill seeking to require a state budget surplus with predicted future surplus in order to release After School Education and Safety (ASES) program funding, and sought to give the Legislature authority to set the annual funding level of the ASES program by repealing the portion of proposition 49 that requires voter approval to lower ASES funding was amended on April 14 to drop the stipulations requiring a budget surplus to trigger the appropriation, and focused solely on giving the Legislature the authority to set the annual appropriation level for ASES funding.

This bill has passed on the Senate Floor, passed the Assembly Education Committee and has been placed in suspense by the Assembly Appropriations Committee due to perceived cost pressures of the teacher pipeline project in subsequent years following the pilot year. The bill will be reviewed again in August, 2008. If passed this bill will:

• Expand opportunities for after school program staff to access the existing Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program;

• Clarify that ASES grantees using supplemental grants may use grant funds to operate on weekends in addition to inter- session, summer, and vacation periods with students who participate during the regular day program;
• Ensure that subcontractors of ASES grantees receive a reasonable amount of administrative funds to administer after school programs.

• Set a minimum grant amount for small schools with 60 students or less with 2/3 of the students attending the after school program in order to ensure that small programs receive enough grant funding to employ the staff necessary to run the program (This provision had to be released due to cost pressures in the current budget climate and will be pursued by Senator Toralkson in a different budget climate)

In an effort to address California’s budget deficit the California State Legislature recently passed SBX 3 2 (meaning the bill was passed in the third extraordinary session of the Legislature) to allow unencumbered 2006/07 ASES funds to be retained by the state. Currently new ASES programs that have requested extensions from the CDE by December 31, 2007 have until March 31, 2008 to expend these funds. New programs not meeting attendance targets this year will not be affected by this legislation, however meeting attendance targets will be required in subsequent years.

The President recently released his 2009 budget request that proposes to fund the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Program at $800 million for nationwide after school programs. This is a reduction from the Congress proposed $1.08 billion budget for the program, while The No Child Left Behind act originally authorized 2.5 billion be released annually for the program.

On 10/05/2005 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 854 which included language affecting the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center grant program. The bill increases the reimbursement rate from $5 per student per day to $7.50 and increases per-site caps and district grant levels. The changes guarantee programs the 15% of funding reserved for administrative costs, irrespective of student attendance.

On June 28, 2007 Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 1685 into law. The bill amended last year’s after-school bill SB638 by allowing current before school grant awards to be increased commensurate with the daily rate increases previously authorized by SB638 for ASES (After School and Education and Safety) funded programs. The bill also expands the range of providers that can report on program outcomes for ASES grantees by changing the word “after school teacher” to “after school staff.” To view the history and text of the bill as it was chaptered go to http://www.leginfo.ca.gov, click on bill information and type in AB 1685.

On 09/21/2006 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 638 releasing $550 million for the state's After School Education and Safety (ASES) program. This new legislation allows for easier access to Proposition 49 funds and raises the daily per child rate from $5 to $7.50, raises grant caps, allows for direct grants instead of reimbursement system, and reduces the 50 percent grant match to 33.3 percent.
Click here to view this bill.

In November of 2002, California Voters passed proposition 49, the After School Education and Safety, or ASES program which mandated that $550 million dollars each year be made available for Kindergarten through 9th grade after-school programs. These funds would be released only after the state achieved a financial trigger making the release of these funds feasible. These funds began being released in 2006/07 and are administered through the California Department of Education (CDE). For more information, click on the following link: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ba/as/

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