SchoolFinder Blog

Summer School Program Budgets Are Getting The Hack

If you haven’t noticed yet, our economy is in a bit of a slump right now. What used to cost me $40 a week in groceries now costs $60 and my friends in the home mortgage business are handing out their resumes left and right. The educational sector has also been affected and some states have had to cut their summer school and enrichment program budgets by 50%.

Students across the country have been affected by these cuts, ranging from struggling students to the gifted. Studies have found that students need some sort of educational stimulation over the summer months in order to prevent them from losing ground academically. So cuts to summer programs equates to struggling students in the fall.

Bethel, Connecticut has discontinued their kindergarten summer program and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho has dropped their summer school program for elementary and middle school students. Florida and California have been the leaders in budget cuts thus far, as they are struggling the most financially.

Some officials in California fear that the budget cuts to summer programs will cause a greater negative effect later in the school year, as more students fall behind. Last year alone 1,580 high school students in Santa Rosa enrolled in summer school classes, a number which has been cut down to 300 this year. Overall, $2 million has been cut from California’s budget and advanced placement courses and enrichment programs have been the first to go.

Florida is the second state conducting the highest budget cuts, reducing it by nearly $1.8 million in their Brevard County alone. These cuts to summer programs not only mean that students will miss out on educational opportunities, but the meal programs that accompany them are also gone, which greatly affects low-income students.

Florida school officials say that making the cuts to summer programs means less teacher layoffs and school closures.

Non-profit groups are suffering too. The Summerbridge program at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, for example, has cut their budget in half by $40,000 due to a drop in donations. The program has also had to start charging students a fee of $50 and cut their enrollment down to 32 from 55.

This is not a good situation for our nation’s young learners. It’s frustrating to see budget cuts in something as important as education, especially in programs that help students succeed throughout the school year. In the case of these students, online summer programs may be a fitting replacement or parents may need to step in and offer supplemental academic support.