Terminator Touts After-School Programs
May 14, 2003 -- He's journeyed to Mars, bantered with DeVito and saved Earth from apocalyptic machine domination, but now the Terminator (aka Arnold Schwarzenegger) is battling a much stronger foe: the White House.
Appearing Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, Schwarzenegger vigorously defended full funding of the Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which supports the development of local after-school programs.
The actor-cum-advocate and possible Republican candidate for governor of California dismissed the Bush administration's plan to cut 40 percent of the after-schools program budget from $1 billion to roughly $600 million in a year that it had been scheduled to rise to $1.75 billion.
Defending the cut, Deputy Secretary of Education William D. Hansen relied on the first of three studies by the Mathematica Policy Research Co.
In his written statement, Hansen argued the Mathematica study shows children in after-school programs did not improve their reading scores, and they did not perform better on homework. The deputy secretary also asserted the federal program had "no positive impact on delinquent behavior" and that "program participants … were slightly more likely to have sold drugs or smoked marijuana than non-participants."
Schwarzenegger, bolstered by the sympathetic after-school participants Madison White, 9, and Steven Kinlock, 17, shot back: "It would be a mistake, let me repeat, a big mistake, to use that study as justification to reduce current funding levels for after-school programs. Instead of cutting back the funding for after-school programs, we should begin to work together to focus on finding ways to improve them."
Education Department: Cut First, Improve Later
Nevertheless, Hansen and Grover Whitehurst, the Department of Education's newly minted assistant secretary for education research, insisted the program should be cut first and improved later.
Whitehurst insisted, "[The Mathematica study] spoke generally to weak effects: no improvements in reading scores, a slight increase in drug use. Add it all together and overall there is a sense that the program is not accomplishing what everyone hopes it will accomplish."
While Schwarzenegger and other witnesses concurred that some improvements could be made, they argued one study does not justify a drastic 40 percent budget cut.
Despite Pleas, Congress Faces Budget Cuts
Appearing alongside the burly actor, New Haven, Conn., Mayor John DeStefano asserted that if the president's cut is accepted by Congress, approximately 550,000 students nationwide will lose access to after-school programs.
Harvey Sprafka, chief of police in Knoxville, Iowa, and a member of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, added, "Our choice is simple: We can either send our children to after-school programs that will teach them good values and skills, or we can entrust them to the after-school teachings of someone like Jerry Springer, violent video games, or worse yet, the streets."
Despite the pleas, Congress and the president face a tight federal budget that's forcing tough choices, a reality not lost on the Department of Education.
In his full statement, Hansen wrote, "The President believes that the limited sums of available federal funds should be concentrated on programs that have the greatest impact … in other words, programs that are accountable. This discipline is more difficult in light of the competing demands of the war on terrorism and efforts to restore economic growth."
Nevertheless, the admittedly fiscally conservative Schwarzenegger called upon his well-known alter ego, the Terminator, to fire back: "Remember, when it's time for the committee to consider funding for after-school programs in the next budget cycle, you can count on one thing: I'll be back."