Gustine Unified School District will continue its own after-school program following the shut down of another program that was in partnership with Merced County Office of Education.
GUSD Superintendent Bryan Ballenger said the district has received calls and emails from parents about the idea of not having an after-school program during the spring. In March, a Facebook post from a Gustine community page gained traction as it mentioned that both programs were closed for the district’s elementary schools. The post had several district families commenting their concerns of how the closures could affect them and confusion on why it closed.
LIGHTS is a GUSD-run after-school program, while After School Student Education: Teamwork for Success (ASSETS) is between the MCOE and school districts in Merced County. According to MCOE’s website, ASSETS is offered at 17 schools within Merced City School District.
GUSD’s decision to continue with one program was due to recent federal funding pauses for K-12 programs and for the district to not have two after-school programs running concurrently, Ballenger said.
“Money for ASSETS was one of those things that was looking like it wasn’t going to get funded, but we didn’t know that in [March or April],” Ballenger said. “The decision to go down to one after-school program, our LIGHTS program, had nothing to do with financial benefits to the district or cost to the district.”
Several K-12 schools were affected by federal funding freezing stemming from President Donald Trump’s administration. On July 1, the Trump Administration withheld over $6 billion in federal funding reserved for services that provide academic support such as programs for English learners, teacher learning,and after-school program. Over $800 million was set to be withheld from California, according to an analysis from the Learning Policy Institute.
The decision drew scrutiny from California Democrats, who released a joint statement on July 17 where they demanded the funding to be released.
“These programs support some of the most vulnerable and underserved students and communities in California and have been demonstrated to have lifelong benefits to students’ educational attainment, income and other measures of wellbeing,” the statement read. “For many California’s school districts, this funding has already been accounted for in school budgets for the upcoming school year. Now our schools are being forced to delay hiring and reduce resources to help students.”
Later that month, $5.5 billion in federal education funding was released with California receiving an estimated $939 million, according to the Sacramento Bee.
MCOE’s spokesperson Nathan Quevedo stated in an email to The Connect that $19.5 million were withheld from Merced County school districts and its Office of Education. He added of the amount mentioned, $9.5 million was for MCOE’s Migrant Education program, which provides educational and support services in Stanislaus, Merced and Madera Counties.
Navtej Hundal is a freelance journalist in Stanislaus County.
