School's out, now what?

Our view: Baltimore needs to come up with a strategic plan for funding after-school programs; the current system is inconsistent and unfair to students

September 8, 2008

Programs that help kids keep learning after the school day ends are an important part of the educational experience for thousands of Baltimore students. After-school programs that focus on academic enrichment and the arts help reinforce skills learned in the classroom and foster intellectual curiosity and creativity at home. No wonder the loss this year of six after-school programs to budget cuts has left neighborhood parents frustrated and angry.

Budget woes forced the city to cut about $900,000 from its annual contribution to the Family League, a quasi-public agency that funds city after-school programs. The school system also reduced its contribution, opting to funnel more money directly to each school under a new initiative that gives principals greater authority to set priorities and fund them. That left about $5.8 million - the majority of it from the city - that the Family League distributed to 73 after-school programs this year. But because the city's cuts weren't announced until August, after principals had finalized their budgets, schools that had counted on city money to fund after-school activities suddenly had to choose between dropping them or cutting other programs. In addition, the Family League decided this year to fund several new after-school programs as part of Mayor Sheila Dixon's violence reduction initiative, which targets older students. That meant there were even more programs competing for fewer dollars.

The City Council is looking for ways to make up the shortfall. But that's only a stopgap. What's needed is a clearer policy on how Family League funds are distributed, and a set of goals for what the programs are supposed to accomplish. Is the priority to expand the violence reduction initiative? Or is it to maintain the academic and arts enrichment programs that have proved successful in the past? Right now, there's no mechanism for settling such questions and coordinating an overall strategy for the schools.

The Family League board, which includes the mayor and schools chief, and its private-sector funders would seem like the logical choice to hash out these issues. But though it has the power to do so, the board hasn't been able to come up with a plan that balances the need to consistently fund existing programs with the desire to launch new ones. Unless that changes, the last-minute confusion over program funding will likely be a recurring headache. That's not fair to the kids who count on attending these programs, or to the principals who plan for them.