WASHINGTON – Five school districts in Maine will share $2.03 million in funds from the Education Department earmarked to set up after-school community learning centers.

The grants will be managed by SAD 14 (Danforth), SAD 48 (Newport), SAD 39 (Buckfield), SAD 58 (Kingfield) and the Augusta school system. The programs also will benefit several communities from other school districts.

Patricia Davis, program director for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers and the coordinator for the Maine Family Resource Center in SAD 14, said she was surprised that the money came because the regular round of funding didn’t include the district earlier in 2000 and she had begun to prepare a new grant application.

“The money will be used for after-school programs, including transportation, tutorial times, minicourses for students and other extension activities, such as outdoor education or cooking classes,” Davis said, pointing out that five schools will share the benefits of the funding. “We’re also going to extend the hours for the library and provide child care.”

The affected school districts that will be managed by the Danforth grant include SAD 29 in Houlton, SAD 70 in Hodgdon, CSD 9 in Island Falls and SAD 30 in Lee.

“We had already begun the process to write the grant request for the next year when they decided to give out more money,” Davis said. “We are excited. It will make a big, big difference to these districts, because there is no after-school funding right now for after-school programs for these districts.”

In the Danforth area, 1,850 students could be helped.

Jim Dyer, a full-time sixth-grade teacher in Hartland, worked on behalf of 2,200 students in central Maine to develop the Newport proposal to help launch an after-school program.

“It’s going to give our kids a level playing field with some of the more affluent coastal areas,” Dyer said. “Senator [Susan M.] Collins’ office notified us, kind of as a Christmas present, that we were awarded the grant.

“We’re going to develop a variety of recreational programs to help these kids,” Dyer said. It was the first major grant that he had worked on.

The towns served under the SAD 48 grant will include Newport, Corinna, Plymouth and three towns in Somerset County: Hartland, St. Albans and Palmyra. Etna and Dixmont are also affected by a high school after-school program site.

Nationally, the Education Department awarded $213 million in the new round of funding, affecting 386 school districts in 46 states.

Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said the expansion of after-school programs was pushed by President Clinton to “provide extra help and extended learning opportunities” for disadvantaged students.

Riley said the “investment in our children will provide them critical extra learning help in safe places.”