HB 1981 - DIGEST


Finds that good after-school programs and activities provide safe and effective learning environments for children, including children who might otherwise be alone and unsupervised after school. These programs not only support children's academic efforts, they also build community partnerships that support children and their learning.

Finds that students who participate in good after-school care programs: (1) Miss fewer days of school and have better behavior in school, test scores, grades, and records of homework completion than children who are left alone;

(2) Spend more time actively learning in a variety of settings and less time watching television than their peers who are left alone; and

(3) Have better peer relations, emotional adjustment, and conflict resolution skills than children who are left alone.

Finds that, at the request of the legislature, the Washington after-school network has prepared a statewide after-school plan that would help the state make strategic investments in programs and activities that support children academically while keeping them safe and well-supervised.

Declares an intent to implement the plan by expanding high quality after-school programs, supporting professional development for after-school program staff, increasing public awareness of program benefits, and supporting the after-school organizational infrastructure to ensure economies of scale in support of after-school programs.

Appropriates the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, from the general fund to the office of the superintendent of public instruction to carry out the purposes of this act.

Appropriates the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, from the general fund to the office of the superintendent of public instruction to carry out the purposes of this act.