FY 2026 Budget Proposal details released: Administration eliminates dedicated funding for afterschool and summer

The President’s proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026 would zero out funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC), the only federal funding stream dedicated to afterschool and summer programs. 21st CCLC funds support thousands of local programs serving nearly 1.4 million children across the nation. The full budget proposal, released the evening of May 30, 2025, details the Administration’s proposal to consolidate 21st CCLC with 17 other K-12 grant programs within the Department of Education and cut funding for those programs by 69%. This proposal would eliminate the federal government’s only dedicated funding to support students through quality, local afterschool and summer learning programs. It is now the job of Congress to craft spending legislation. Read a statement from our Executive Director, Jodi Grant. 

Tell Congress to protect kids afterschool and keep funding for 21st CCLC

The proposed budget cuts Department of Education funding by an unprecedented $12.4 billion (15.6%), to $66.7 billion. In addition to eliminating 21st CCLC, the newly proposed K-12 Simplified Funding Plan eliminates funding for the Supporting Effective Teachers (Title II); Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV, Part A) which can be used for afterschool STEM programs and whole child supports, Statewide Family Engagement Centers, Education for homeless children and youths, Arts in Education, Rural Education, and more. The new Simplified Funding Plan would be funded at $2 billion and would force state and local education agencies to collectively cut $4.5 billion in existing funds. The budget proposal claims the consolidation will remove “the unnecessary administrative burdens imposed under current law.” In addition to drastic cuts, the consolidation eliminates many of the unique benefits of targeted afterschool funding including the ability for community and faith based organization applicants to apply for program funding, the emphasis on local priorities and local needs, accountability, and support for students and working families in the hours that school is out.  

Currently 21st CCLC funding supports programs in every state and territory, under the Administration's proposal the dedicated funding for afterschool and summer programs would cease to exist. View this map to see how the proposed cut could impact your state.

Afterschool and summer programs keep kids safe and engaged and help them reach their full potential. They are a lifeline for working parents. Parents and students choose to attend 21^st CCLC afterschool and summer learning programs that are provided by nonprofit and faith-based organizations in addition to schools, charter schools, cities and towns, universities, public libraries and museums. Kids in afterschool:

•  Get better grades
•  Attend school more often
•  Make gains in math and reading
•  Are more likely to graduate
•  Have higher incomes with better jobs as adults
•  Discover their passions

Learn more about the evidence base for afterschool and 21st CCLC, as well as the wide range of positive outcomes these programs have.

If we lose local afterschool and summer programs, kids, families and communities will suffer.

The Afterschool Alliance has launched a campaign, AfterschoolWorksforAmerica.org, to showcase the value of afterschool and engage the public in preserving federal afterschool and summer program funding. 

The budget proposal would have a wide-ranging impact on federal support for afterschool and summer learning programs, which go beyond the proposal to eliminate dedicated afterschool funding. Based on the detailed FY 2026 budget proposals for the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies, the field will see a range of impacts: 

• Title IV Part B Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers: $0, a cut of $1.329 billion from the FY 2025 Continuing Resolution level. This is the largest funding stream exclusively for afterschool and summer learning and provides nearly 1.4 million students with quality programming outside of the school day. By eliminating and collapsing 21st CCLC into the K-12 Simplified Funding Plan that goes to local school districts; existing grantees that are nonprofits, faith-based organizations, universities, park and recreation departments, libraries, museums, and other non school providers, would no longer be able to secure 21st CCLC grants.
   
• Title I Part A Grants to Local Education Agencies: $18.407 billion for Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to close opportunity and achievement gaps in our nation's schools and help schools sustain programs that support students' academic recovery from the impacts of the pandemic, level with FY 2025. Schools can spend Title I funds on afterschool and summer learning programs.
   
• Title IV Part F Full Service Community Schools: $0, a cut of $150 million, eliminating the program, resulting in a loss of important competitive grants that provide comprehensive services and expand evidence-based models to meet the holistic needs of children, families, and communities. Out-of-school time programs are a key element of community schools.
   
• Title IV Part A Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants: $0, cutting the programs by $1.38 billion. The program, which funds school districts to provide students with a well-rounded education, ensure safe and supportive learning environments, and use technology to improve instruction, would be eliminated and collapsed into the K-12 Simplified Funding Plan. Allowable uses for the grant include support for afterschool STEM activities.
   
• Education for Homeless Children and Youth: $0, cutting the program by $129 million and eliminating the program by collapsing it into the K-12 Simplified Funding Plan. This program, which is authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, provides formula grants to States, which then subgrant most funds to LEAs for services and activities that help children experiencing homelessness enroll in, attend, and succeed in school, such as preschool programs, enriched supplemental instruction, before- and afterschool programs, transportation, and health care referrals.
   
• Education, Innovation, and Research (EIR): $0, cutting the program from $259 million. The program would be eliminated. EIR funds have been used in past years for STEM education as well as evidence-based, field-initiated innovations that address student social and emotional learning needs.
   
• Title II-A Funds for Teacher Professional Development: $0, a cut of $2.19 billion. The program which supports training for teachers as well as informal educators would be eliminated and collapsed into the K-12 Simplified Funding Plan.
   
• Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program: $0, a cut of $75 million and an elimination of the program. The CCAMPIS program helps to ensure that student parents with low incomes enroll in, persist in, and complete postsecondary education by helping to meet their needs for affordable and convenient child care.
   
• TRIO and GEAR UP: $0, eliminating the $1.57 billion that currently provides services to encourage underserved individuals to enroll in and complete college and postgraduate education. These programs assist middle and high school students in preparing for college through Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) often during out of school time.
   
• Career, Technical Education (CTE): $1.44 billion proposed, level with last year’s funding for the Perkins V CTE program, state grants. The request would continue to support the Administration’s policy to optimize and target Federal investments in workforce development to align with our country’s reindustrialization needs and equip American workers to fill the growing demand for skilled trades and other occupations.
   
• New program proposed: The proposed K–12 Simplified Funding Program (K–12 SFP) would consolidate eighteen currently funded formula and competitive grant programs for elementary and secondary education into a single State formula grant program. In theory states and localities would have flexibility to use K–12 SFP funds for any number of elementary and secondary education activities, consistent with the needs of their communities. According to the budget proposal this includes “increasing educational options for students within and across schools, strengthening instruction in core academic subjects, and promoting patriotic education.” By creating a single formula grant program that reflects a 69 percent funding cut, state and local districts will be put into the position of having to eliminate existing, critical supports for students, including afterschool and summer programs. 

And in the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies:

• Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG): $8.747 billion, level with FY 2025 Continuing Resolution funding. Approximately 44% of those receiving CCDBG funds are school aged (5 to age 13). Approximately 600,000 school-age children each month receive Child Care Development Fund assistance for their participation in before-school, afterschool, summer programming or in school-age childcare, with 73% of those served in center-based settings.
   
• STEM Education: Informal Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education funding is dispersed in a number of places throughout the federal budget. Many STEM programs in afterschool settings are made possible because of partnerships, funding, resources, and mentors from the various science mission agencies in the federal government. The informal education programs within agencies like NASA, NSF, and NOAA were all impacted by proposed funding cuts: NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) is zeroed out in the budget request and the National Science Foundation's Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) takes a 75% cut compared to the FY24 level. In particular, the Advancing Informal STEM Education (AISL) program, a dedicated funding stream for informal science learning at NSF is zeroed out. Our blog, Budget details confirm scope of cuts to afterschool STEM education, contains more details.
   
• AmeriCorps: The budget plans for the elimination of the Corporation for National Service, providing  $32 million for the orderly closure of AmeriCorps. The FY 2026 budget proposal would eliminate the Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates as AmeriCorps. This would result in a significant cut, potentially eliminating 71,000 AmeriCorps service positions. AmeriCorps and VISTA are a key asset for hundreds of afterschool programs. Earlier this year the AmeriCorps agency sent notifications terminating nearly $400 million in grant program funding. 
   
• Department of Labor Youth Activities: $0, a cut of $948 million eliminating youth activity funding. Overall, the budget proposal cuts Department of Labor funding by $4.6 billion (35%) and consolidates and cuts funding for workforce development. The budget proposes to create a new workforce grant program named “Make America Skilled Again” that combines several programs and cuts funding by $2.5 billion (44%). In FY 2025, the Department of Labor grants supported a wide range of activities and services to prepare low-income youth for academic and employment success, including summer and year-round jobs. The program links academic and occupational learning with youth development activities. YouthBuild is also proposed for elimination.
   
• Institute of Museum and Library Services: $0, agency is proposed for elimination. The Administration has focused on trying to lay off and withdraw funding for IMLS in previous actions earlier this year.
   
• Youth Mentoring Initiative: $43 million for youth mentoring grants which is a $52 million decrease from the FY 2025 level of $95 million. The Youth Mentoring program is housed within the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. These funds include support for mentoring programs taking place through afterschool and summer learning programs.

The FY 2026 appropriations process now moves to Congress where House and Senate Appropriations Committees will determine the funding levels for all federal government programs including afterschool and summer learning through 21st CCLC. The Afterschool Alliance has launched a campaign, AfterschoolWorksforAmerica.org, to spread the word about the necessity of afterschool and engage the public in saving afterschool and summer program funding. Since the President's skinny budget proposal came out on May 2, more than 37,400 emails were sent to Congress in support of afterschool and summer programs. With the full budget now confirming that 21st CCLC funding is proposed for elimination, you can reach out to Congress now to explain the value and importance of programs to your community and family.