TASC's policy and advocacy efforts expand our impact beyond the programs we support, monitor and evaluate in New York City. By focusing on state-wide policy formation and advocacy, TASC is an advocate for all of the children of New York State.
The Seeds of a Statewide System of After-School
With a modest investment of $1 million in 1999, then-governor George E. Pataki adopted the TASC model of after-school programs to establish New York State’s Advantage After-School initiative. Since then, in part as a result of advocacy and coalition-building by TASC, the Advantage program has grown to $28.2 million a year, serving nearly 28,000 children around the state.
Connecting School Equity Funding and After-School
TASC was an active participant in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit brought on behalf of New York City school students. TASC submitted an amicus brief in that case in 2004, asking the court to set aside funds for after-school as an explicit part of the school funding formula. While not successful in getting the court to create a funding stream for after-school through the school funding cases, TASC helped lay the foundation for the plaintiffs and policy-makers to consider after-school as part of school funding.
Once the case was resolved and equitable school funding legislation passed, TASC successfully advocated with the New York State Education Department to include language in its rules and regulations to allow school districts to use state education funding for after-school activities. This explicit endorsement of after-school by SED, within its education funding stream, helps lay the foundation for TASC’s call for a coordinated after-school system, and for programs to be able to depend on a balanced mix of funding from all levels of government.
Addressing an After-School Funding Crisis
Timely advocacy means responding in a crisis. When more than 200 after-school programs faced closure at the end of the 2007 school year due to funding decisions made by the New York State Education Department, TASC jumped into action. TASC helped organize providers across the state to contact legislators and policymakers in the governor’s office to save programs. As a result, more than $13 million for after-school programs were allocated in the state’s FY 2008 budget.
