I was essentially raised by a single working mother who spent 12 years getting herself a Master's Degree while working full time and raising a very independent and even more obstinate little boy.
We weren't the poorest people I knew, but clothes came from Goodwill and we did not have enough money to put oil in our home's heater during some winters.
By 7th grade, I had been managing my own meals, hygiene, laundry and getting to and from school for a few years. I was also running as fast as I could directly to jail or worse. I had become feral.
I was extremely lucky that my mother forced me to try out for a magnet program, which got me into a different social group and even though I continued to find some trouble, I did not continue to find ever worse kinds of trouble.
Of course, I could be wrong, but I believe that art program and the teachers, students and counselors there saved my life.
It would be a real shame if we allowed people to dismantle those programs, as I certainly am not the only economically disadvantaged person who found themselves at least somewhat stimulated and essentially saved by the experience.