After-School Programs Have More Funding But Staffing And Enrollment Remain Challenges 0 Beneficial after-school programs received millions in pandemic-relief funding, but more than 1,000 Oahu families are still waitlisted because of staffing shortages.
After-school programs are one of the main ways the education system has set out to regain academic and social-emotional learning lost during the height of the pandemic, but despite more than $4 million in extra funding, the DOE is having a hard time reaching kids.
Kids in after-school programs do better on tests, are absent from school less, and get more socialization than many of their peers, but the number of kids reaping these benefits is much lower than it could be.
Last fall, there were 15,600 students enrolled in After School Plus, or A+, the department’s after-school program — now there are only 10,234, a drop of 34%.
