Beyond the Bell, Club B will be back. What to know about scaled-back plans
Tacoma Public Schools will offer beloved after-school programming in a scaled-back form after Parks Tacoma announced it was pulling a majority of its funding for the programs.
Called Beyond the Bell and Club B, after-school programs for elementary and middle school students, were available to families at a free or highly subsidized rate – until Parks Tacoma, the agency that paid for a majority of the programs, announced it was going to eliminate its funding due to a $9 million budget shortfall.
The announcement comes as Tacoma Public Schools also faced a $10 million deficit in the development of its 2026-2027 budget.
Chief financial officer Rosalind Medina said the district was able to maintain the programs by altering the fee structure and reducing some of its offerings. The school district did not have the capacity to contribute additional funds to the programs given its own deficit. The district has faced budget deficits in the scale of tens of millions of dollars for the last several years.
“We are potentially paring back some of those services, so that we’re either not offering as many opportunities or the same size of the opportunity,” Medina told The News Tribune.
Parks Tacoma’s elimination of the program affected nearly 200 staff and thousands of students. Program employees and parents who relied on the program have said they filled a vital need for after-school care, providing jobs and allowing parents to go to work without having to worry about expensive after-school childcare.
In a statement, Tacoma Public Schools outlined a “preliminary plan” for Beyond the Bell, the program for elementary school students. Starting in September it would run for two hours per day instead of three, and with no Friday offerings. The program will cost families $100 per two-day-a-week offering, but certain families who qualify for homelessness assistance and free and reduced meals will not be charged, the statement reads.
Previously, the program took place for three hours a day, five days a week. Families could opt in to pay up to $96 but could also opt to pay nothing.
Club B, the middle school equivalent of the program, will operate for two hours per day and not on Fridays, the statement reads. The program will cost $50 per two-day-a-week offering, and families who qualify for homelessness assistance and free and reduced meals will not be charged.
“We will continue to share information as details are finalized,” the district’s statement reads. “Thank you for your patience.”
Parks Tacoma leaders have said though they are pulling their support for the programs in the near term, they’re open to the possibility of resuming contributions once the agency is in a better financial position.
Parks Tacoma’s former executive director Shon Sylvia resigned as the agency contended with its budget deficit, which agency leaders said was at least partially the result of a lack of budgetary oversight, they’ve said publicly. Sylvia resigned with more than half a million dollars in payout, the only employee of the agency’s board which conducted only three of the annual performance reviews it was required to do for Sylvia in the nearly 10 years he held the job.
