After-School Initiative Drums Up Bipartisan Support in Washington

By Joetta L. Sack

Washington

If there's one thing the White House and Republicans in Congress can agree on, it's that after-school education is a top priority this year.

For the past three years, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative has been the fastest-growing discretionary education program in the federal budget. This year, President Clinton is proposing another whopping increase--from $200 million to $600 million--for a program that received a mere $1 million in fiscal 1997.

It seems only natural that both Mr. Clinton and the GOP would back the initiative: It gives at-risk students a few more crucial hours each week to learn the academic basics--and during the after-school and early-evening hours when most crimes...