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1991, programs in Allegheny County in 1999:
Tend to have more older children enrolled in nonschool-hour programs, are more likely to offer
different activities for older children, and consequently place somewhat more emphasis on
academic support activities, enrichment, and tutoring.
- Shgw that approximately one-third of the directors of programs in the County have college degrees
or higher, have a higher median of seven years experience in this field, and slightly morestafflave
college degrees locally (28Eo) than nationally (2l%o).
- Have less staff turnover locally (2IVo) rhan nationally (35Vo).
- Have a staff:child ratio in the County (1:11) that is a bit poorer than the national average (l:9) but is
at the professionally recommended minimum of l:10 for children less than 6 years and l:12 for
children greater than 6 years of age.
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Thus, in Allegheny County, the quality of care in structured center-type environments is only
"averager" and most children in the County attend nonschool-hour services that are not licensed
or regulated and in which staff are not necessarily trained or credentialed. Moreover, a set of
recommended practices specifically for nonschool-hour programs does not exist. Therefore, some
systems of standards, regulation, support for training, and subsidies and incentives for providers,
agencies, and parents is likely necessary to raise the quality of nonschool-hour programming, centerbased
and otherwise, toward a standard of excellence.
FrnaNcHL AND Man¡,cnnnENT IssuES
Agency Funding
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Parent fees are the predominant form of financial support for agencies. Sixty-one percent of centerbased
programs charged parents fees, and an estimated 797o of parcnts pay full fees as defined by the agency.
- Subsidies are more common in programs serving low-income populations. Regulated programs
primarily use public subsidies, while other programs provide parents discounts, sliding-fee
scales, multiple-child discounts, and scholarships, with contributions from private foundations and
government covering the difference between parent fees and costs.
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Funding remains a problem for many agencies. One+hird of the agencies surveyqd said sufficient
funding was difficult to obtain to provide the physical and material resources they felt were needed and
to hire and maintain staff.
A variety of government and private funding is available, but not used to its fullest extent.
- Funding for nonschool-hour progrâms is available from a variety of federal agencies. These
include the U.S. Department of Education (Title I, Safe Schools Act of 1994, Title VII, Reading
Excellence Act, 2lst Century Community Learning Centers), U.S. Department of Agriculture
(Child and Adult Care Food Program, Cooperative Extension Services' Youth at RiJk Program),
U.S. Department of Justice (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Bureau of
Justice Assistance), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Community School youth