Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The District 186 Summer SCOPE Program has not only lost funding but also came close to losing its summertime activity.

With a combination of a ten-thousand-dollar grant from the school board, as well as upping the attendance fee by 10 dollars, they regained their footing and SCOPE is now able to remain in action over the summer.

During the school board meeting held recently, the meeting being held a day late due to Presidents Day, SCOPE received the approval to increase the summertime admission fee and was saved from closing the summertime program.

Incoming superintendent, Terrance Jordan, spoke on the WTAX Morning Newswatch about some of the hardships they have faced, what caused the near shutdown, and better explained the fee increase.

“We raised it 10 dollars per week for summer, it’s a ten-week program, we are just trying to ensure that we have the resources we need to make SCOPE the best program possible,” stated Jordan. “We are losing some funding from grants and other things. When people find out the possibility of scope being closed, they offer us support. We got one grant from the Springfield Public Schools Foundation for ten-thousand-dollars to cover all of the field trips and things of that nature. We want to maintain those extracurricular activities and opportunities for students.”

Of course, SCOPE wasn’t going to close because it seemed like an expendable program.

“Weve never thought that SCOPE was not important. It was just that we were losing money, as a result of not increasing rates over the past ten years. So now we are trying to readjust and slowly increase those rates to be still competitive, but also profitable for a lack of better words. It was never a goal to make money we just want to break even.”

With this fee increase, the programs budget will be able to balance out allowing SCOPE to remain open and to keep the youth active, and out of trouble this summer.