Abstract
Purpose of study. The purpose of this study was to investigate what conditions must exist for a district to be prepared to provide school-age child care and which conditions influence a district's decision to prove or not to provide school-age child care. Methodology. One hundred and thirteen school districts in four Southern California counties were surveyed with 60 percent responding to a researcher-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire contained seven areas of consideration: strategies to determine need; funding resources; personnel; facilities; advantages; disadvantages; and additional options. To determine if there was a significant difference in the distribution of condition(s) considered between providers and non-providers of school-age child care, the data were treated by using the Chi-Square two independent sample test of significance. Each area under consideration was tested separately; individual items were selected as most important from each area and then ranked for their importance to provider and non-provider districts. Ethnicity, size, and location were also analyzed for their influence on providers and non-provider school districts. Results. The study revealed that both provider and non-provider school districts considered essentially the same conditions during their decision-making process. Specific individual conditions received stronger consideration than others from provider districts while similarities were noted between both types of districts. Funding resources, the availability of personnel, and the lack of facilities were the major areas that impacted district officials during their deliberations. Ethnicity and district size proved to be of little importance during the deliberations. A significant difference was found between provider and non-provider districts in terms of location. Middle-income suburban districts and some middle-income rural districts are providing school-age child care programs. Low- and high-income districts, regardless of community classification, are not providing programs.