Students across Arizona returned to school this week, but those attending Flagstaff’s Killip Elementary won't have the free access to afterschool programs they’ve received for years.
The school lost out on a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant from the state, one it has received for nearly 30 years.
That grant supported free after-school programs for students whose parents are working and can’t pick them up immediately after school, along with free clubs like basketball, art and chess.
Killip Principal Joe Gutierrez says families now have to pay for the afterschool programs the grant had subsidized.
“If families cannot afford the $8 an hour, and there's a $50 registration fee, they won't be able to participate. So, a lot of times families are just left off the block because of affordability,” Gutierrez says. “I mean, I have had families that have come in and said, ‘OK, what are the hours of school? I'm going to have to rearrange my work schedule. I'm going to have to be gone from home at night so that I can pick up my kiddos from school.’”
Gutierrez says they’re still determining whether they can continue to support some afterschool clubs but the loss of the grant will be impactful.
“Students whose parents live paycheck-to-paycheck, they don't have the opportunity to afford extracurricular activities. So we have orchestra, chess. Chess is huge here at Killip and has been for years,” Gutierrez says. “For our clubs, it means that we won't be able to provide our students with these experiences and opportunities to further enhance their interests.”
Since 2019, the Arizona Department of Education has given out an average of $25 million to schools annually through the program.
Last year the state awarded $33.8 million to 38 school districts and organizations.
This year it’s just $11.7 million to 19 districts.
Department officials say they got about $20 million in funding for the program this year, but that’s more than $2 million fewer federal dollars than last year.
Arizona Department of Education spokesperson Doug Nick says the money also has to cover previously awarded grants.
That’s because CCLC grants are on a five-year cycle. Once a school is awarded the money, the state continues to provide funding for several years without the need for a school to reapply.
Killip lost out on the grant following a competitive process that determines which schools receive the money.
Nick says schools are supposed to demonstrate that their programs are financially sustainable without the grant to be eligible for the grants.
“Schools are to ensure they have community partnerships and other supports to run programs when the grant period ends, as there is no guarantee that a previously awarded program will score high enough in a subsequent competition to receive a new grant,” Nick told KNAU in an email.
But Prescott Unified School District Federal Programs and Grants Department Director Jamie Bjune says that’s a tall order.
Four schools within PUSD currently receive the grants, although none of them had to reapply this year.
“We do worry each time we reapply that that will be the year we don't receive funding,” Bjune wrote in an email. “The program always emphasizes the importance of sustainability — that ideally, schools should be able to sustain the afterschool programs through other means after their grant funding ends. I can't imagine any public school district really being able to do that.”
Gutierrez says the grants are meant to serve rural communities.
“You know, some people will claim that Flagstaff is rural. Others won't, so it all depends on what the definition is,” Gutierrez says. “When you look at metropolitan areas like Phoenix, Tucson, they have businesses [that often support schools]. You know, you've got your Intels, you've got your Motorolas, you've got that type of support that you can lean on. Flagstaff is pretty minimal in those sorts of things.”
