BUSH, CONGRESS MUST CLOSE AFTER-SCHOOL GAP

This is the season of resolutions, when we steel ourselves to lose
weight and get fit, spend less and save more, eat in and not out. We
promise to be more patient with our loved ones' foibles and to be
understanding of our co-workers' shortcomings. Yes, you name it, we
resolve it.

If only we could be judged by our January intentions instead of our
December results. Follow-through is never as easy as we wish, and it
turns out that it's not just individuals who make and break
resolutions. In January 2002, Congress and President Bush enacted the
No Child Left Behind law, resolving, among other things, to slowly
but steadily grow after-school programs around the country with a
series of moderate funding increases. Four years later, it turns out
that funding for after-school programs hasn't increased a penny; in
fact, it has shrunk by a few million dollars. Another resolution forgotten.

Only this time the stakes aren't just being less cranky with our
in-laws or fitting into a favorite pair of jeans. This was a
commitment by the federal government to provide a vitally needed
service for several million American children. The price of breaking
this resolution is that 1.75 million children are without the
after-school care they were promised.

As a result, many Maryland students are unsupervised each afternoon --
wasting their time or, worse, getting into trouble. Studies
demonstrate that afternoons are when kids are most likely to get
involved in inappropriate behaviors -- from drugs to crime to sex. By
comparison, kids in after-school programs spend their afternoons
engaged in uplifting, educational activities under the watchful eye of
caring adults. The contrast couldn't be any more stark. Unsupervised
kids don't have to look hard to find trouble; and for many, trouble
comes looking for them. But kids in after-school programs have caring
adults who keep them safe, inspire them to learn and relieve their
parents of worries about what they're up to.

The St. Mary's County public school system, with the Boys and Girls
Clubs of Southern Maryland, the Local Management Board of St. Mary's
County Inc. and St. Mary's College of Maryland, provides 11
after-school programs to approximately 1,000 students. These programs
offer a many activities, including African drumming and dance, reading
instruction, Lego robotics, cooking, the Kiwanis Kids service club and
sports instruction. Unfortunately, some of the programs have only
enough resources to operate for two days per week for five months of
the year and only 11 of the county's 24 schools are served.

So the federal failure to expand after-school opportunities is a huge
opportunity wasted. The 1990s saw a surge in the number and quality of
after-school programs -- not just extracurricular clubs, but formal
programs at schools, community centers, houses of worship and
elsewhere, where children regularly spend the afternoon hours getting
help with homework, learning skills and playing sports. Much of this
growth in after school activities was the result of the federal 21st
Century Community Learning Centers initiative, which has awarded four
grants in Southern Maryland since 1998. This wildly popular federal
funding stream, which supports after-school programs, serves 1.4
million children across the county.

That's a lot of kids, but the truth is that many more are without the
after-school care their parents want for them. According to the most
comprehensive survey research on after-school issues, "America After 3
P.M.: a Household Survey on Afterschool in America," conducted for the
Afterschool Alliance with support from the JCPenney, only 11 percent
of the nation's youths are in after-school programs, and 25 percent
are left to fend for themselves in the afternoons.

Not every child needs to be in an after-school program. But every
parent ought to have that option available. Unfortunately, many do
not. According to the survey, the parents of 15.3 million children
would enroll their children in an after-school program if one were
available. The unavailability of after-school care hits close to home,
too: Across Maryland, according to "America After 3 P.M.," the parents
of 27 percent of all children not in after-school care say they'd
enroll their children if a program were available.

Closing this "after-school gap" is critical to our families and
communities. Early next month, President Bush will present his
proposed budget for fiscal year 2007, after which Congress will spend
many months deciding how taxpayers' money will be spent. That process
will be an opportunity for the president and Congress to make good on
a four-year-old resolution.