The voucher program we really need is not for school — it’s for after

The voucher program we really need is not for school — it’s for after

The voucher program we really need is not for school — it’s for after
Betsy DeVos can better serve working parents by supporting their aftercare needs

At 3 p.m. when most schools let out, some kids will stay back to attend an after-school program, some will be picked up by parents, relatives or paid caregivers to be taken home or to a soccer or swim class, and some others will hang out, on a street corner, or in the playground nearby with friends, or in an empty home. If you are a working parent with regular office hours, the group that your child belongs to depends on how much you can afford to pay for after-school care.

Unfortunately, the free, public part of education ends when the bell sounds.

Turns out that most of those who can’t afford to pay private school tuition can’t dole out funds for after-school programs either. In 2016, the online education news outlet Chalkbeat reportedthat only 18 percent of children nationally are served by before- and after-school programs. Many have no choice but to leave children in settings that won’t teach them skills that will help them get to college or snag a high-paying job.

The federal government could help. Students’ social and economic needs don’t end in the afternoon, and neither should the safety net that public schools provide. With the U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos so eager to pass out school vouchers like Halloween candy, “to choose the learning environment that is right,” why isn’t there a voucher scheme for after-school programs?

The duration of school days is a vestige of a past when women were expected to stay at home, and able to pick their children up from school to take them back home. It’s long past time schools recognized that 61.1 percent of married couples, both parents work, and offered after-school programs that meet their demands. School hours — typically between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. — simply don’t match a 9 to 5 workday, let alone the more intensive days that come with certain kinds of jobs. What are parents to do with their kids in those in-between hours?

Related: Teachers of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your pain!

If parents don’t want their child to get after-school lessons from the streets or television, they are forced to pay for quality childcare and afterschool programs. There’s not much wiggle room for parents, and aftercare providers, keenly aware of this, charge accordingly.

According to a 2013 report by the U.S. Census, childcare costs rose 59 percent between 1985 and 2011 while family income stayed constant, meaning families paid a greater share of their income for childcare.

There is wide variability in what parents pay for childcare between Continue reading: The voucher program we really need is not for school — it’s for after