We appreciate the many letters we are receiving from you who want the County to continue to fully fund the Sun School Program. We are looking into the issue and invite thoughts about Sun School programs, as well as ideas about strategically selecting where to make cuts when reductions are required. We struggle with how our community is to endure tough choices when the resources don’t meet the demands.
The City has fully funded its commitment to the Sun School program; County leaders are struggling among themselves whether to fully fund or cut $1.7 million of the program’s funding.
No one has made a case that the Sun School Program is not valuable, nor has anyone dismissed the importance of the extended-day programming that provides positive safe activities and academic support.
The case is being posed that cuts have to be made, and this is one place the County can make reductions. According to this view, the County funds similar services to these populations through other programs, and the $1.7 million reduction will impact administration rather than direct services.
The countering perspective is that the Sun School Program is a nationally lauded program with a proven record of strong outcomes and measurable results for hi-risk and low-income children and families, and that the drastic cut will eliminate direct services for approximately 10,000 students.
Please read the linked articles and let us hear your ideas.
SUN Schools has been recognized nation-wide as a premiere asset-based prevention model [1] targeting at-risk or low-income children and families. A recent independent evaluation of SUN by the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory (NWREL) showed strong outcomes and measurable results for children and families served by the program.
SUN Schools are an important piece of the youth and school-related programs [2] funded by Multnomah County, but are only one part of a sweeping set of County programs designed to support children and their families.
Multnomah County commissioners Monday [3] faced a sidewalk demonstration and an evening of emotional testimony from backers of Schools Uniting Neighborhoods, a community schools and social service program that has been targeted for a $1.7 million budget cut.