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Parents and teachers press Newark Unified over sudden after-school fees; board promises review
Summary
Parents, teachers and union representatives pressed the board Aug. 5 over abrupt changes to Think Together after‑school fees after state ELOP funding shifted; a public commenter urged a targeted audit after alleging a $452,000 miscoding. Superintendent said staff will explore options and report back.
Parents, teachers and union leaders told the Newark Unified School District board on Aug. 5 that a sudden shift to a fee-based after‑school model is creating hardship and confusion for families.
At public comment, Miss Parks said a July 23 presentation about reductions in ELOP (Expanded Learning Opportunities Program) revenue offered insufficient financial detail and uneven program changes across sites. She cited figures discussed at the prior meeting — 504 applicants total, with 277 non‑unduplicated pupils (non‑UP) and 227 UP — and said the Think Together contract covers 400 slots. Parks asked how the district could justify charging families roughly $450 per month if the state‑reported shortfall was only about $60,000.
NTA representative Rachel Bloom and several parents described classroom temperatures and HVAC failures, and said the district should prioritize fixing systems rather than focusing immediately on efficiency. Other parents said the $450 price point — and its late notice ahead of the Aug. 7 school year start — threatened families’ ability to secure child care.
In a separate public comment, Parks presented a warrant‑report analysis and said she found 12 invoices to Think Together totaling about $491,814; she alleged six of those invoices (more than $452,000) were miscoded to LCFF Supplemental & Concentration funds instead of the ELOP grant resource code, and asked the board to authorize a targeted audit of after‑school revenue and expenditures covering at least the last two years. "If a $452,000 coding error made it through, what else has been missed?" she asked.
Superintendent Dr. Murphy responded that staff had used last year’s P2 report to calculate the ELOP projection; because Newark Unified sits in tier‑2 for unduplicated pupil counts, some state changes that appeared to increase funding for tier‑1 districts instead resulted in shifted allocations that reduced Newark’s expected ELOP revenues. Murphy said the district is not seeking to make profit from the program and set the initial family fee at $450 to break even, but pledged to explore additional funding sources and partnerships (including city collaboration) and to return to the board with options.
Board members pressed staff for clearer, sooner communication and asked that staff provide the detailed accounting behind the Think Together payments and the ELOP calculation. Several trustees supported Parks’s request to review the warrant coding and recommended staff return to the board with findings and a public study session if necessary.
Next steps: staff said it will follow up with a more detailed financial explanation of the ELOP calculations, confirm fund coding for Think Together invoices, and return recommendations to the board at an upcoming meeting.
