Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – District 186‘s SCOPE before- and after-school program has been losing money since 2014 – about $747,000 in the last school year alone.

But the school board Monday tabled a proposal to shift the program to the YMCA. “There’s no way around it,” said board president Micah Miller. “If we’re with SCOPE or the YMCA, there will be rate increases” from $85 to perhaps $127 weekly. “That’s just all there is to it. If we are talking about rate increases, I would like to see what that looks like to keep the program in-house. I think that it’s to the district’s benefit to try to keep it in-house, because our target would be to be profit zero.”

In addition to fearing changes to the popular program, parents who filled the board room Monday were upset they only found out Friday about the proposal and the planned Monday vote.

“With the limited information I have, but learning what the board seems to have learned tonight along with all of us,” said SCOPE parent Liz Mitchell, “it does seem to me that there has been some mismanagement of funds. I would like some answers about that, as it seems some of you would as well.”186

Other parents said the district lacked transparency and integrity in the last-minute nature of the proposal. After the meeting, superintendent Jennifer Gill said it could have been handled better.

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