House Stimulus Bill Includes New Funds for Afterschool

Great news – The House Appropriations Committee economic stimulus package includes new funds for afterschool. In fact, the package contains all of the recommendations the Afterschool Alliance put forth to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi last November regarding targeted investments to help struggling afterschool programs, participants and their families.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 provides new, additional funds for programs that directly or indirectly support afterschool:

• $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG); about 1/3 of this will be used to support children in afterschool programs.
• $2.5 billion for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), a program that some states use to fund afterschool programs.
• $13 billion for Title I to help disadvantaged students reach high academic standards—some of these funds can be used to support afterschool programs.
• $726 million for afterschool meals, expanding the Afterschool Supper Program to all states (it currently operates in eight states) and snack reimbursement rates to help afterschool programs cover the cost of providing snacks.
• $14 billion for K-12 school construction funds for renovation and modernization. Funding for this kind of infrastructure improvements will improve schools’ and communities’ facilities, which will indirectly help afterschool programs.
• $79 billion for a State Stabilization Fund; 61% must be used for education, with the remainder going to other critical needs including public safety and public services. We believe afterschool leaders and programs can make a case that some of these funds should support afterschool programs.

What’s Next? The House Appropriations Committee marked up the package on January 21. The full House is expected to vote on this bill sometime next week. The Senate has yet to release its proposal, but it is expected to do so next week and begin its mark up process as well. Then the two bodies will have to work out the differences in a conference report.

The ultimate goal is to send a final bill to President Obama by February 13, when Congress is scheduled to begin its Presidents’ Day break. The Afterschool Alliance will keep you informed as the Senate releases its bill, and let you know when it will be most critical for you to contact policy makers to ensure afterschool programs are supported in the final bills. You can sign up for action alerts at theAfterschool Alliance web site.