The FY2027 budget proposes $0 for 21st Century Community Learning Centers

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to before-school, after-school, and summer learning. For fiscal year 2026, Congress kept it steady — the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, signed into law on February 3, 2026, maintained the program at $1.329 billion.

The fiscal year 2027 picture is different. On every state fact sheet the Afterschool Alliance publishes, the FY2027 President's proposed budget line for 21st CCLC reads the same: $0 — zero programs, zero youth.

What's actually at stake, by the numbers

These are not projections. They are the current FY2026 allocations states are operating on right now — the funding that the FY2027 proposal would eliminate:

• Michigan: $40,917,113 supporting 227 programs and 42,896 young people.
• Washington: $21,842,696 supporting 105 programs and 22,899 young people.
• Virginia: $24,583,013 supporting 152 programs and 25,772 young people.

Multiply that across all 50 states and the District of Columbia and you get the scale of what a $0 line item means: programs that keep kids safe between 3 and 6 p.m., that feed them, and that give working parents somewhere to turn.

Why it matters for families now

Demand already outstrips supply. On the Afterschool Alliance's state pages, the number of children who would be enrolled in a program if one were available runs far ahead of current enrollment in nearly every state. Cutting the one dedicated federal stream doesn't reduce that demand — it pushes it onto families and local budgets.

If you're a parent trying to fill the after-school hours regardless of what happens in Washington, you don't have to wait on a budget. Free, standards-aligned, at-home enrichment is available today.

Every figure above is drawn from public, primary sources, linked below. We don't estimate funding numbers — if a source doesn't state it, we don't publish it.