The Record: Parents want after-school funds restored

 

BY Melissa Hayes

 

ENGLEWOOD – About 20 parents gathered at the Bergen Family Center on Thursday to protest the elimination of state funding for New Jersey After 3, which provides after-school programs for about 5,000 children, most of them in urban areas.

 

Karla Inestroza's eyes filled with tears as she told other parents her son could not attend the after-school program this year.

 

Inestroza's 6-year-old son had attended the program in the past and expected to return this year. But with fees nearly doubling, she said she can no longer afford it. Her son, she said, is having a hard time understanding why he could not attend the program.

 

 The majority of the parents spoke Spanish, and said many of their friends could not attend the meeting because they were working.

 

The Bergen Family Center used $100,000 in state funds to provide subsidized after-school programming at the Dr. John Grieco Elementary School.

 

 Governor Christie issued a line-item veto eliminating state funding for New Jersey After 3, a New Brunswick-based nonprofit that received a $10 million subsidy from the state in 2009. Christie proposed defunding the program last year, but $3 million in state money ultimately was restored after a flurry of bipartisan lobbying.

 

Parents said they hope to persuade Christie to restore funding for the program next year. They passed around a petition, which they plan to send to local and state officials.

 

Affordable after-school care keeps kids off the streets during the most dangerous part of the day and lets parents work the hours they need to put food on the table," another parent, Magalye Matos, said.

 

Matos organized the event with the Better Choices for New Jersey campaign, a coalition of more than 75 organizations fighting for alternative revenue solutions to offset state budget cuts.

 

Rob Duffy, a spokesman for Better Choices, said Christie could have saved the funding.

 

By simply restoring tax rates to where they were in 2009 or closing corporate loopholes, he could have protected working families," Duffy said. "Instead, he chose to protect New Jersey's wealthiest with his red veto pen."

 

A Christie spokesman did not return a request for comment.

 

Matos, whose first-grader son is in the program, said parents are not looking to send their children for free, but they would like the rates restored to last year's level. She has been pushing the school board to come up with alternative programming or funding to help offset the increase.

 

She also said that despite the cost increase, there is a waiting list for the program because only 210 spots are available. She would like to see the district provide alternative programs.

 

Sandra Alfaro said she can send only her younger son to the program; her 8-year-old son must walk by himself from the Grieco School to a baby sitter's house so she can work.

 

Other parents said they are struggling to keep their children in the program.

 

Arturo Estrada, who speaks limited English, said he was happy to get his two daughters into the program this year because they have people who can help them with their homework, particularly writing, something he struggles with. But he said his wife's hours have been cut back and he is now faced with keeping his children in the program or paying for groceries.

 

"We work hard," he said. "We just want to make our lives better and make a safe world for our kids."