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After-School Programs

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After-School Programs:
State Legislative Models

Below you’ll find a menu of model state legislation (most of which has passed in at least one state) as well as guidelines for state legislators and advocates relating to after-school programs that can be tailored for use in their own states. 

Here are a few key legislative models enacted or proposed in various states (for more details, read below):

  • See the State Pages by the Afterschool Alliance on afterschool programs in each state.
  • The National Governors Association's Support Student Success details best practices in designing afterschool programs.
  • California's Proposition 49 was approved in 2002 with the goal of providing afterschool programs for all children. See this summary by the Afterschool Alliance.
  • In 2001, both houses of the Illinois General Assembly unanimously passed resolutions to create the Initiative, a task force to study the state's afterschool programs. See this summary of the results by the Afterschool Alliance.

THE BIG PICTURE OF AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS:  With the parents of 28 million school-age children working outside the home, only 6.5 million K-12 children (11%) participate in afterschool programs.  But states are increasingly making it a priority to expand afterschool programs to enrich student academic achievement, prevent crime, and ease the burden on working parents.  Additionally, the No Child Left Behind Act increasingly requires states to provide afterschool programs to help underperforming students.

Talking Points on Afterschool Programs

  • More than 14 million school age children (25%) are on their own after school. 
  • The hours between 3p.m. and 6p.m. are the peak hours for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex; quality youth programs can transform these hours of potential crime into time for academic enrichment. 
  • Teens who do not participate in afterschool programs are nearly three times more likely to skip classes than teens who do participate. 

Other Resources on Afterschool Programs

  • Afterschool Alliance
  • Fight Crime: Invest in Kids: America's Afters-School Choice:  The Prime Time for Juvenile Crime, Or Youth Enrichment and Achievement
  • National AfterSchool Association includes more than 7,000 practitioners, policy makers, and administrators of afterschool programs across the country
  • The US Department of Education maintains the 21st Century Community Learning Centers site for using that federal afterschool program to strengthen achievement of at-risk students

    • Go to MomsRising TV & After-School Programs Page

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