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Bill Update | 29 September 2010 Governor Schwarzenegger signs Senate Bill 798 into law. Thank you to everyone who helped make this important summer-learning legislation a success. |
Senate Bill 798, sponsored by Partnership for Children and Youth, and authored by California Senator Mark DeSaulnier, seeks to provide much-needed resources for summer learning programs to low-income children through California’s federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program (21st CCLC) dollars.
The 21st CCLC program supports before school, after school and summer programs for children attending schools in low-income communities. In California, we dedicate half this funding to after school programs for elementary and middle school students, and half the funding to after school programs for high school students. However, in recent years the number of high schools seeking new funding has been decreasing while the number of elementary and middle schools seeking funding continues to be very high.
SB 798 would redirect 15% of the funding dedicated to high school programs and dedicate it to summer learning programs.
Summer Learning Loss and Weight Gain
The original implementation plan for 21st CCLC did not accommodate the range of needs throughout the year, including services during periods when the school is closed (e.g. vacation periods, intersession). Research is very clear about the negative impacts that occur when children lack learning opportunities during the months when they are not in school. This phenomenon—called Summer Learning Loss or Summer Slide—disproportionately affects low-income children and is also cumulative over time. Some researchers attribute as much as 2/3 of the achievement gap to a lack of summer learning opportunities.
In addition, research also shows that children gain weight more rapidly in the summer if they don’t have access to organized recreational or physical activity programs. Nearly all children enrolled in publicly funded after school programs also receive free or reduced price meals during the school year, and without those meals in the summer, many are receiving lower-quality foods that are causing weight gain.
The 21st CCLC program is one of the very few resources available to us in California that can be used for summer learning and enrichment programs for children. It’s crucial that we utilize some of these resources for summer programs.
After school and summer programs are not only critical supports for children’s learning and development, but also for working families.
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Read More About Summer Learning and Enrichment Questions About Senate Bill 798? |
