EXPOSITION PARK >> Arnold Schwarzenegger, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump’s plans to cut funding for after-school programs, rallied government and education leaders at a National Afterschool Summit at the University of Southern California Wednesday.

Schwarzenegger said the summit was planned before Trump released his proposed budget. Even so, the former California governor came down hard on the president.

“President Trump promised us that he wants to make America great again. That’s not how you make America great, by taking $1.2 billion dollars away from the children (in after-school programs),” Schwarzenegger said. “Why would you want to balance the budget on the backs of those kids?”

Schwarzenegger was referring to Trump’s federal budget proposal that would cut all funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, housed under the Department of Education. The program gives $1.2 billion nationally to programs for young people, especially in low-income areas, during non-school hours.

“This is why it is so great to have all of you,” he told the audience of education, government and after-school representatives. “When I look out there, I see crusaders. I see warriors. I see a bunch of terminators,” he said, prompting laughs. “Because I know that you’re going to go to Washington. You’re not going to take this lying down. … You’re going to talk to the Democrats and the Republicans, because this is not a party issue.”

• PHOTOS: Arnold Schwarzenegger pumps up after-school programs at national summit

Van Jones, host of CNN’s “The Messy Truth,” interviewed Schwarzenegger on stage about his support for after-school programs and his role in the passage of Proposition 49 in 2002, before he was governor. That legislation increased state funding for before- and after-school programs. Schwarzenegger said he spent millions of dollars trying to get the proposition passed.

“If I want to give back anything to this country. (it’s) by starting after-school programs and the whole movement,” Schwarzenegger said.

In 1992, Schwarzenegger began a youth sports program in Los Angeles that became After-School All-Stars, now a national organization that hosts after-school programs for low-income kids.

The summit was a networking event for after-school leaders from all 50 states, according to organizers. But it also was a rallying cry for them to pressure elected representatives to keep federal funding intact.

Conservatives get it wrong, and programs like these help kids get out of poverty, he said. “The grown-ups have to make sure there’s a ladder for them to climb.”

Jones was set to interview Schwarzenegger again later Wednesday on “The Messy Truth.”

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Many other leaders were part of the summit, including the mayors of Bell Gardens; Charlotte, N.C., and Gary, Ind., who talked about preparing students for the workforce. “Extra” host Mario Lopez and NFL player J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans talked about the role of sports in student success. Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member Monica Garcia and California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley discussed how after-school programs keep kids in school.

The district has 1,200 non-school hour programs on 600 sites, serving more than 100,000 students, Garcia said. “Yes, we need more. … We know it works.”

Wednesday’s National After-School Summit was held in conjunction with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, the After-School All-Stars and the Afterschool Alliance.