SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona paid a visit to Fairview Elementary School in Springfield on Wednesday to connect with those involved with the after-school program.

The district partners with the Central Illinois Boys and Girls Club to offer after-school services. Secretary Cardona said relationships like these are ones the government should work on building, especially since federal pandemic money is running out and some of the programs that were started during that time will no longer be funded.

Springfield Superintendent Jennifer Gill said the district is already preparing for that.

“Even this year, we’ve started to scale back a bit and just say this program is going to culminate, but we’re going to continue our after-school program,” Gill said.”

After-school partnerships like the ones offered at Fairview were created without those federal pandemic dollars.