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News Release
June 7, 2000
New afterschool programs would merely create more "empty seats"
Existing programs at just 59 percent of capacity, new study notes
As part of his "new family agenda," presidential candidate Al Gore wants to spend an extra $11 billion on afterschool programs for latch-key kids. But as a new study from the Cato Institute shows, this is hardly a problem that demands federal attention.
Only 2 percent of American children in the critical ages of 5 through 12 are left unsupervised after school, and those who are spend no more than six hours a week alone, writes Cato Director of Education and Child Policy Darcy Olsen. What's more, the average enrollment at existing afterschool programs stands at just 59 percent of capacity, with low-income Americans relying on such programs at about the same rate as other families.
The federal government already has more than 100 grant and loan programs for underused afterschool care, administered through seven federal departments or agencies, Olsen says. In fact, increased state and federal spending on afterschool programs has lifted the proportion of schools with extended-day programs from 13 percent in 1988 to 63 percent by 1998. "The assertion that there is an urgent need for taxpayer-subsidized afterschool programs is not convincing," she says.
Proponents claim that, if nothing else, afterschool programs can help boost academic achievement. But, according to Olsen, the research on that question is at best divided. "There is no evidence that children are better off in afterschool programs than in any number of other activities they might enjoy after school," she says.
Nor are afterschool programs proven to be effective at curbing juvenile crime. Part of the problem, Olsen says, is that those adolescents most likely to commit crimes are least likely to attend afterschool programs. And as for the idea that making students spend a larger share of their day in school can curb delinquency, she says schools themselves are often breeding grounds for crime and drug use-"the incubators of the very maladies they seek to prevent."
Olsen agrees with Vice President Gore that many parents would benefit from flexible educational arrangements that provide supervision for children during afterschool hours. "But instead of funding the expansion of government schools," she says, "state legislators should adopt universal tuition tax credits that would give parents full latitude to select their children's schools-including independent schools that offer afterschool programs."
"12-Hour School Days?: Why Government
Should Leave Afterschool Arrangements to Parents"
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