July 21, 2017
Ombudsman Corner
It has arrived, folks - the U.S. Department of Education now has a webpage titled the Ombudsman Corner where they host a directory of all state ombudsmen and their newsletter for ombudsmen ( sign up now!).
The Department's Office of Non-Public Education has really leaned into this provision to help ensure implementation proceeds according to the law. Please be sure to use this resource for your own reference and to encourage your ombudsman to sign up if s/he has not yet.

If you have time, please let me know about your experience with your ombudsman - it helps inform my advocacy to the Department and Congress.
Implementation of ESSA, Administrative Budgets, and Appropriations
As consultations for the upcoming school year are underway, a few things to highlight:
  • ESSA and its changes to consultation are in full effect this school year. See our resource here.
  • Administrative Budget - we have already heard reports that LEAs are claiming huge increases in administrative costs for carrying out services. If this is the case in your area, you should ensure these costs are grounded in real needs, not just an accounting maneuver to skirt the spirit of the law. Under ESSA, Catholic school officials have the right to ask the LEA to "show their work" and to ask for it in writing. As a rule of thumb, administrative costs above 8% should be explained further. If you are having issues, please don't hesitate to reach out.
  • Appropriations - In the House of Representatives, a bill was passed out of committee last week to fund the Department of Education's programs. One hitch - it set spending for Title II-A at $0, just like President Trump's budget requested. We are engaging with the Senate, where the partner bill has yet to be written, to hear their opinion on Title II-A funding and offer our experience from the Catholic school side. To be clear - Title II-A is funded for school years 2017-18 and 2018-19, so this is not changing anything soon.
The Choice Debate
In anticipation of an overhaul of the US tax code, advocates for parental choice in education have been talking up a federal "scholarship tax credit" (STC). The idea is simple - donations to a non-profit scholarship group can be written off of an individual's or business's taxes, sometimes $1-for-$1. The incentive inspires more giving, and increases educational choice for families. STCs exist in 17 states, with Florida and Pennsylvania having the largest ones.

The Catholic bishops wrote in 2005, "The entire Catholic community should be encouraged to advocate for parental school choice and personal and corporate tax credits". 

We hold to that position and the staff at USCCB are on Capitol Hill and at the White House advocating for empowering parents in educational choice. To read our principles around legislation, please see this letter from Bishop Murry last month to two champions of the cause in Congress.
As always, please share with me your ideas, suggestions, and experiences by emailing gdolan@usccb.org

Best,
Greg


USCCB Secretariat of Catholic Education  | 202-541-3148  | gdolan@usccb.org | http://tinyurl.com/CatholicEdPolicy


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