LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
After-school programs for District 95 students, including Beyond the Bell and the 21st Century Club programming, will relaunch on Oct. 20, following the federal government’s release of $1.3 billion in previously withheld grant money.
Paris-Union 95 district Superintendent Mary Morgan Ryan provided members of the school board and the public with an update on the programs and funding during the Monday, Aug. 11, school board meeting.
“As you all know, Beyond the Bell and after-school programming clubs are funded by a federal grant, and that money was not delivered from the federal government to the states on July 1. We sent out communications saying that we would not be able to start our programming in September. Now, there’s been news that the funding has been released,” the superintendent explained.
On June 30, the Trump administration chose to withhold the previously promised federal funds just two days before the money would have been distributed to schools across the nation. Widespread advocacy and legal action followed until the administration announced the release of the funds on July 18.
A statement issued by District 95 at the start of the kerfuffle on July 8 promised to keep “the school community informed of developments.” The notice also earmarked Oct. 20 as a new target date if the federal funds became available.
At Monday’s meeting, Morgan Ryan shared that the programs will adhere to the October date, despite the release of federal funds.
“What I’ve been able to learn from the State Board of Education is that their process (starts) in the spring. They get a notice from the federal government saying, ‘You are going to get this money,’ and then later on, they get the money, and then they allocate it out to the grantees and the districts,” Morgan Ryan said. “Usually they start getting the notices in April, and that didn’t happen this year.”
Per Morgan Ryan, the state follows a three-step process to distribute the funds, and they are still “in the first step.”
“I just wanted everyone on the board to know that you may be hearing on the news that (funds) have been released, but this (state issue) is why we are not jumping forward and moving our programming up. We are keeping it at Oct. 20 and just being very cautious,” Morgan Ryan said. “We don’t have the money to fund the program unless the federal government grant is coming through … We’re hearing from the state that the funding still isn’t there, yet.”
Both Beyond the Bell and 21st Century Club programs were originally scheduled to begin on Sept. 2, with funding covering the cost of employees and supplies for the activities.