With the Illinois state budget deep in the red, it’s not just schools that are feeling the pinch – before- and after-school programs are in peril as well, educators say.
Illinois has reduced funding for early childhood education, including before- and after-school programs, by 10 percent, said a spokesman for state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), who is the vice chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. This could result in as many as 15,000 Chicago children losing eligibility for these programs.
The state’s budget deficit is up to $12.8 billion, forcing lawmakers to cut state funding. It’s these cuts that are destroying before-and-after school programs in Chicago, said Harry Wells, president of Chicago Youth Centers.
David Sinski, executive director for After School Matters in Chicago, said the cuts have significantly affected all nonprofit programs, and it doesn’t appear that the problem will be fixed any time soon.
“Given the current economic climate, After School Matters, like many nonprofit organizations, has experienced difficulty relying on continuous funding from all sources,” he said in an e-mail. “At the same time, challenging financial circumstances have escalated demand for and reinforced the need to expand out-of-school program opportunities for Chicago teens.”
After School Matters is a nonprofit organization that offers 25,000 program opportunities to Chicago teens. Sinski said the long-term goal is to double the capacity to 50,000 programs, which would be enough to accommodate about one-half of all Chicago public high school teens, specifically on the South and West Sides.
Wells said in the past year, his nonprofit organization has lost over $1 million in financial support.
“We have seven centers in Chicago that are for early childhood through teen education programs,” he said. “We lost $400,000 in state funding thus far, and it looks like that will double next year.
“That would be devastating to our program.”
Chicago Youth Centers serve eight neighborhoods: Altgeld Gardens, Riverdale, Roseland, South Shore, Grand Boulevard, Bridgeport, Humboldt Park and North Lawndale.
“Our goal was to expand our centers throughout Chicago, but right now we have to focus on finding funding to keep the doors open,” he said. “This program and others like it are vital in Chicago. The young people that come to us would otherwise be on the street after school and would be subject to drug and gang violence on the streets or they would drop out of school entirely.”
Ralph Martire, director at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said the problem is just going to get worse unless state taxes are raised.
“All these elected officials seem to think they can solve the program without raising taxes, but they can’t say how,” he said. “The numbers are pretty simple, and they are staggering. It is impossible to solve this without a tax increase.”
Martire said the state’s financial situation is grave at best, and it’s just the start. Next year, he warned, these education programs are going to take a serious hit, receiving significantly less money, if any at all.
“This year, these programs can expect that they will get anywhere from 10 to 50 percent less than they thought they would get,” he said. “The following year, all bets are off. If you don’t have money, you don’t have programs.”
Jack Kaplan, director of public policy for the United Way, said his organization sent a survey to over 1,000 nonprofit organizations in Chicago. Of the 500-plus that have responded, 59 percent report they’re waiting on back payments from the state.
“These organizations were reporting over $80 million in back pay that is due to them,” he said. “The state has been slow paying any service they think they can do away with. The state feels these agencies can be a lower priority, when in fact they are necessity in Chicago.”
Kaplan said he doesn’t even want to think about what next year could bring.
“This is not a scare tactic or a ‘chicken little the sky’s falling’ thing,” he said. “The state needs a wake-up call. These before- and after-school programs, along with early childhood education, are absolutely critical for Chicago. If the state does away with the funding for these programs, the impact will be unspeakable.”
Kelsey.Duckett@loop.colum.edu
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