By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
Story Summary
- Money that lawmakers approved to fund after-school programs this year was not distributed until April, leaving organizations only a few months to spend those funds or return the money to the state.
- The Illinois State Board of Education says the delay was due, in part, to the fact that lawmakers approved more money than the agency had requested, without clear instructions on how to allocate it.
- Last year, $50 million in funds approved by lawmakers was never distributed due to a similar lack of communication between ISBE and the legislature.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
SPRINGFIELD — As state lawmakers work to pass a school funding plan for the upcoming fiscal year, some are expressing frustration over how this year’s budget has been implemented.
Specifically, they’re frustrated that the Illinois State Board of Education took until early April — nine months into the fiscal year — to distribute an estimated $18 million to organizations that operate after-school programs throughout the state, and then told those organizations they had only until the end of August to spend the money or else return it to the state.
State Sen. Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, who serves on a committee that oversees education spending, said the delay in getting money out the door has had a real impact in her district and many others.
“I think for our Senate Progressive Caucus and our Senate Latino Caucus, this is something that we have lifted up, in part because after-school money is something that our caucuses all across the board have been fighting for for many years,” Guzmán, said in an interview. “Any delay to funding is not just a delay to the programs that the children need, but also to providers and to community organizations that depend on this in their budgeting.”
The budget lawmakers passed last year included $35 million for ISBE to distribute for after-school programs, with $17 million of that earmarked for programs operated directly by schools and $18 million reserved for programs operated by outside organizations.
Susan Stanton, executive director of the group ACT Now Illinois, a coalition of after-school program providers, said the programs serve an important role in many underserved communities.
In addition to organized recreational activities, she said many of the programs offer tutoring and academic support, workforce development and even STEM clubs.
“But one of the most crucial pieces of that is that many of the schools and the families that these programs serve were depending on this funding to provide crucial childcare during the hours after school in order to keep kids safe when parents can’t be there to pick them up,” Stanton said. “And so when you have delays like this, it definitely makes it almost impossible for schools and families and programs themselves to properly plan for their needs.”
ISBE response
ISBE said its delay in awarding funds this year was due to two factors: The last-minute increase in the amount of money lawmakers approved for the year, and an unexpectedly large number of appeals the agency received in response to its tentative award decisions.
In an email, an ISBE spokesperson said the agency requested only $25 million for after-school programs and was prepared to issue a “Notice of Funding Opportunity,” or NOFO — an invitation for organizations to apply for grants — as soon as the budget was approved.
When lawmakers approved $35 million, the spokesperson said, the agency had to seek guidance from lawmakers about how they wanted the additional money to be spent. That pushed the release of the Notice of Funding Opportunity to August, which then pushed the deadline to submit applications into October.
“Grant competitions are lengthy processes and take 4-5 months from the release of the NOFO even under ideal circumstances,” the spokesperson said. “This is because the statutorily mandated competitive grant process incorporates multiple stages of review and appeal to ensure awards are administered fairly, transparently, and in accordance with the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) and other applicable state and federal law.”
Although ISBE had given grant recipients additional time to spend their funds in previous years when funds were distributed late, the spokesperson said that was not done this year because the agency “identified significant compliance issues with this practice.”
“Currently, grants cannot be extended into FY 27 without a change in appropriation or law; the Board is actively working with Budgeteers (lawmakers who lead appropriations committees) to make the changes necessary to extend the grants into FY 27.”
A system in ‘turmoil’
Guzmán, however, said this year’s delay in distributing after-school program funds was not an isolated incident, but rather one in a series of funding disruptions that have put the after-school programs in a state of “turmoil.”
In 2024, she noted, lawmakers appropriated $50 million for after-school programming, none of which was ever distributed, which meant it all had to be returned to the general revenue fund.
ISBE said at that time it could not distribute the funds because lawmakers failed to provide clear instructions about how the money was to be allocated, something lawmakers themselves did not dispute.
“I think ultimately where we’ve landed is, have you seen the Spider Man meme, where one side points at the other side?” Guzmán said. “I think you kind of heard that a little bit throughout the appropriations hearing. That’s still happening, both on the side of legislators and on the side of ISBE. And you know, I think where I stand is, as adults, we have to get it right for the children.”
She also noted that many of the programs in Illinois have seen disruptions in federal funding when the Trump administration last summer blocked the release of $1 billion in 21st Century Community Learning Center funds, which also helps pay for after-school programs.
ACT Now is part of a federal lawsuit in Chicago that seeks to release that funding. The case is still pending before a federal judge.
But Stanton said even within the state’s own funding mechanisms, there is a lack of coordination between multiple agencies that have a role in funding after-school programs, which include the Department of Early Childhood and Department of Human Services as well as ISBE.
“I can’t speak for exactly what causes and causing the delays out of ISBE,” she said. “What I know is, regardless of where you get your funding from, these are largely all the same organizations that it affects. And when you have a really disjointed system, it’s really the programs, the kids and the families who pay the price with these delays.”
In a separate interview, Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he did not think anyone in particular was to blame for the delays.
“We want to make sure that the funds are spent the way that they were intended, that they’re going to the communities where they’re going to do the most good,” he said. “So, yeah, I don’t classify it as anybody dropping the ball.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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