Save After School: Campaign to Increase the ASES Daily Rate

California’s After School Education and Safety (ASES) program supports over 4,000 elementary and middle schools offering after school and summer programs to more than 600,000 students daily.

Over the last decade, the ASES program has been stretched to its breaking point due to increased operating costs and flat funding. Without additional funding, programs have already had to reduce the number of students they serve, enrichment activities, academic support, staff hours, and/or staff training, and may have to close their doors altogether, according to our 2016 survey.

Since passing Proposition 49, California has been a national leader in high quality expanded learning programs. However, the current threat to federal funding for after school and summer programs under 21st Century Community Learning Centers, combined with dramatically under-resourced state-funded programs creates a dual threat for California, which could have enormous negative impacts for hundreds of thousands of children and their families.

Legislation

Senate Bill 78: Introduced by Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chico) to increase funding for California’s statewide after school program, After School Education and Safety (ASES).

Governor Jerry Brown signed the California State Budget for Fiscal Year 2017-18, which included an additional $50 million in ongoing funding for the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program. Though the $50 million only goes halfway in meeting the field's current fiscal needs of a $9 daily rate in response to the increased state minimum wage, this is an essential first step that will allow programs to stay open and ensure thousands of students continue to have a safe place to go after the school bell rings. This significant success could not have been possible without key legislators who prioritized our budget request, the Governor shifting his position on where additional funding for after school should come from, and YOU!

For more information on our ongoing efforts to save after school, please visit our campaign website and sign up for updates.

Resources

Other Focus Areas

PCY regularly supports state legislation focused on:

Increasing the awareness and quality of summer learning programs.
- We bring together superintendents, school board leaders, principals, policy makers, business leaders, child advocates, parents and students to join the growing Summer Matters movement to ensure every child has access to summer learning opportunities that support year-round learning and well-being.
Fostering the growth and sustainability of community schools.