Good, Better, BEST

How do you spell relief for a working parent? A Van Nuys mother stopped worrying and feeling guilty when her daughter began attending an after-school program based at her elementary school. LA’s BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) gave her daughter, Tiffany, now 12, a chance to be a little girl and to discover that she is gifted athletically as well as academically.

Unlike Tiffany, millions of children ranging in age from 6 to 12 must fend for themselves. Their parents either cannot find or cannot afford after-school care.

The adult supervision in after-school programs, in Los Angeles and around the country, varies from basic baby-sitting to structured academics. The best programs are closely linked to what children are learning in school and offer a challenging combination of enrichment, remedial work and organized activities--including, of course, some fun and games.

The payoff, beyond parental peace of mind, is measurable. A UCLA study released last June examined the effectiveness of the nationally recognized LA’s BEST and found that participants performed better on standardized tests in reading and math than other children in the same school. Additional benefits include better school attendance and, according to the UCLA research, swifter fluency for English-language learners.

Current funding allows only 76 elementary schools to be served by LA’s BEST, which is staffed by educators and college students and operates on public school campuses. The school board has set a goal of providing after-school programs at all elementary and middle schools within five years, continuing a timetable set by the late Mayor Tom Bradley, who created LA’s Best in 1988. Bradley had hoped that within 20 years the program would operate districtwide. His successor, Mayor Richard Riordan, in his seven years in office has more than doubled the number of campuses served, but that expansion is barely a dent in the hundreds of unserved schools.

Los Angeles school Supt. Roy Romer has appointed an assistant superintendent to oversee the expansion of after-school programs that aim to support learning. But funding is a chronic issue in the district even in relatively flush times, forcing a choice between higher pay for teachers and other needs, including anything extracurricular.

The cost of providing after-school supervision at every elementary and middle school campus is estimated at $50 million to $100 million. The expanded effort would be financed by federal, state and local funding, foundations, corporations, private contributions and fees paid by parents who can afford it, as well as out of the Los Angeles Unified School District budget.

Of course, LA’s BEST is not the only prescription for good after-school care. Many high-quality programs operate out of libraries, community centers, storefronts and even the homes of teachers, but the convenience of having after-school care at the school site is undeniable. More parents, responding to a buoyant economy, are going to work, and welfare reform requires most recipients to take jobs. The one thing working parents don’t want is to have their children alone after school, unsupervised and glued to the tube, or worse. The benefit of quality after-school care for students and parents--and for the popularity of public schooling--is blindingly obvious.