City funding for hundreds of free after school progams that serve 53,000 students may be slashed by the Bloomberg administration in an upcoming round of budget cuts, the Center for New York City Affairs reports.

Two years ago the Out of School Time programs got $117 million from city, allowing 87,000 kids to attend free after school and vacation programs. City support was reduced to $90 million this year and now, a proposed contract for 2013 anticipates that the city would provide less than $70 million for the OST programs. The cuts mean that fewer than half the current number of students would be served, advocates predict.

A representative for the Department of Youth and Community Development which distributes the funding says the cost of providing  services is rising because in the future all programs will be required to provide both after school and summer programs.

Advocates voice concern about the impact of such cuts on families with the loss of affordable child care for working parents.

Read the full story here: Mayor's Axe to After School?