Montgomery County taxpayers are funding after-school programs, but county leaders have no idea how many programs are available, how many kids they are reaching or even the total amount of money provided, council members said Monday.
Council President Mike Knapp said County Council members first requested basic information about after-school and positive youth development efforts three years ago. Since that time, although the County Recreation Department, schools and council members have pieced together information about certain programs, there is no comprehensive document or database that contains a list of all programs available or funded by the county.
“We have an alignment problem because we don’t know what’s out there,” Councilwoman Valerie Ervin said.
“We have the County Council and the county executive funding organizations doing the exact same things that [existing programs such as] sports academies and Rec Extra are doing.”
Council members, bracing for a difficult budget process in which the county faces a $297 million projected deficit, said they also wanted to see some way to measure the results of various after-school programs.
“I get worried that the focus is on just giving more money … rather than on the outcome,” Councilwoman Nancy Floreen said.
County sports academies alone, created in November 2005 to provide students at five high schools with a venue for academic and athletic activities, are expected to cost the county roughly $1.5 million this year. Rec Extra programs are costing the county about $600,000 a year to provide similar programs for all 38 middle schools in the county.
Documents provided to council members Monday showed slight improvements in GPAs for 9th-, 10th- and 11th-grade students who participated in the sports academies, but also that according to the students themselves, they had more days where they were involved in a violent situation after school.
“If this is our idea of making a difference, we’re not doing it,” Councilman Marc Elrich said.
