AUGUSTA, Ga. - Richmond County Schools have been hit hard this year with budget cuts and after school programs are no exception.

Schools have already lost a number of programs, from sports to music, that provide kids with something to do after class.

Hundreds showed up Thursday night at the Laney High School Stadium for the "Lights On Afterschool" rally.

Their goal was to tell government officials ‘enough is enough’ when it comes to chipping away at funding for after school programs.

"With the budget being cut, I don't think it's right. I think they should keep at least some money for the after school programs," said parent Kashun McNair.

McNair has two young children and will soon depend on after school activities to keep an eye on her kids when she's too busy with work to be at home.

She and many others at the event talked about how important the programs are to their children.

"It's a good thing to keep kids enrolled in some type of activity to keep them off the streets and prevent them from getting locked up and going to jail," said McNair.

Georgia Senator Ed Tarver spoke to the crowd about what he's doing to protect school budgets and pull programs off the chopping block.

"As long as we continue to have across the board cuts, they are in danger,” explained Sen.Tarver. “We're trying to encourage our governor to prioritize our spending so that programs like education are exempt from any further cuts."

Tarver says if Richmond County wants to keep its school programs, the people need to let it be known.

"Augusta needs to step up in terms of interacting with our legislature in Atlanta and insisting that education be the number one priority for our state," said Tarver.

As positive as the event was, Richmond County Schools have cut $7.1 million from their budget this year.

Superintendent Dana Bedden says more cuts are expected as early as December. When that happens, more after school programs will likely be lost.

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