LA's BEST — Better Educated Students for Tomorrow — is a nationally recognized after school education, enrichment and recreation program serving more than 28,000 children with the greatest needs and fewest resources throughout the City of Los Angeles. LA's BEST After School Enrichment Program provides a safe haven for children, ages 5 to 12, at 180 elementary school sites each day during the critical hours after school — at no cost to parents. Established in 1988, LA's BEST is a partnership including the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the private sector.

Help Save Prop 49

In 2002, a ballot initiative came before California voters that would profoundly increase the state’s investment in after school programs for elementary and middle-school students. Sponsored by Arnold Schwarzenegger before he won the office of Governor, the initiative, called Proposition 49, promised to provide access to state funds for after school programs in every public elementary and middle school in California.

The funding was specifically designed to encourage education agencies to create locally-driven after school programs that provide safe havens for students to engage in educationally enriching activities during the critical hours after school. Statistics show that children are often most vulnerable during what experts call the “high-risk time” after the final school bell rings and before a parent gets home from work. Providing secure and engaging environments for students during this period is crucial to keeping them on track and out of trouble.

As it turned out, passing the bill was only half the battle. Even though Proposition 49 passed, some fought to repeal it. More legislation was needed to ensure the State actually released the funds and that the monies ended up where they belonged — in after school programs. LA’s BEST staffers and Board Members joined alongside many after school supporters, educators, and children’s advocates and finally the key implementation legislation was pushed through.

In September 2006, the State announced that $550 million in new funds would be made available by Proposition 49 for the creation and improvement of after school education and safety programs in California. The release of the funds enabled LA’s BEST to open eight new sites in early 2007. Across the state, more than 3,800 school sites and 400,000 students benefit from after school programs funded by the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program established through Proposition 49.

Only two years after the initial funds were made available, Prop 49 is under threat. A conference committee action in the State legislature would place an initiative on this November’s ballot to reverse the voters’ action in 2002 and effectively gut the ASES program. Such a proposal makes uncertain the future of badly needed after school programs, just when they are beginning to fulfill their promise to young people in our most challenged communities.

Research shows that LA’s BEST and programs like it have an enormous positive effect on students’ lives: we boost academic performance, reduce the likelihood of juvenile crime or dropping out of school, and improve the social interaction of students in the program. There is also a significant financial return to society for this investment: At LA’s BEST, we know that for every dollar spent on our program, at least two and half times that amount comes back to our communities through a reduction in juvenile crime.

We hope leadership in Sacramento seeks an alternative to this action, one that would not ask after school programs to bear more than their fair share of cuts in a tough budget year. For the students in these programs, it means the difference between a safe place to be with something positive to do, and being left without the thing most critical to their futures: choices.

To register your opposition to a committee action that would reverse Proposition 49, send a letter to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814 or via e-mail at Speaker.Bass@assembly.ca.gov.