EXCERPT FROM: The Daily Californian
By Soumya Karlamangla
The beginning of the school year Wednesday in the Berkeley Unified School District also marks the end of several before- and after-school programs serving low-income students and their families.
Due to a 75 percent service reduction, supplementary programs at five elementary school sites in the district have been eliminated in response to proposed state budget revisions and the ongoing impasse preventing the budget's approval.
The reduction will cut the majority of local programs within the Berkeley's Excellent Academic Road to Success program, which provides need-based child care to many low-income families, in anticipation of the elimination of all state funding for child care programs.
The plan was approved by the district's board of education Aug. 18, and is effective only in September and October, leaving the future of child care in the district - as it is throughout the state - uncertain.
"The hope and assumption is that by then the state will have come up with a budget," said district spokesperson Mark Coplan.
For the upcoming two months, the BEARS program, along with the district's preschool programs, will run only on its own cash reserves and a $38,000 contribution from the district.
"(BEARS) went from serving 300 students to serving 70," said Zachary Pless, program supervisor of Extended Learning for the district. "Hopefully we're not leaving those families hanging."
Programs at Berkeley Arts Magnet, LeConte Elementary, Rosa Parks Elementary, Thousand Oaks Elementary and Washington Elementary schools - which provided child care at least one hour before school days begin and after school every day until 5:30 p.m. - have been eliminated. Three program sites remain.
Many of the children who attended the program at the closed sites will now join a similar program - Berkeley Links Enrichment, Academics and Recreation to the Needs of Students - an after-school program that, starting today, will absorb many BEARS students.
While the BEARS program emphasized services for low-income children, the LEARNS program offers similar services but is not subsidized by the state.
To absorb BEARS students at little to no cost to the families, left-over revenue from fees paid by the parents of children enrolled in LEARNS will be used to subsidize the program, according to Emily Nathan, program supervisor for Berkeley LEARNS.
She added that this system may not be sustainable.
Berkeley resident and parent Basia Lubicz, whose 9-year-old son is enrolled in the LEARNS program at LeConte Elementary School, said the services provided by the district's after-school programs are invaluable.
She said the programs not only provide time for students to play, but also offer help with homework to keep students' minds active and added that these services will be retained in the LEARNS program.
"The district has to weigh and balance what to do with dwindling funds," Lubicz said.
In effect, the remaining BEARS sites, along with those of the LEARNS program, will serve about the same number of students, but at reduced hours.
"The families have been very gracious," Pless said. "A lot of people understood that this was out of our control."
Despite these temporary fixes, the long-term future of the district's child care programs will remain undecided until the state budget is approved.