May 4, 2017
ESSA Programs Funded
The spending agreement reached this week by Congressional negotiators set funding levels for Titles I & II-A at nearly the same as last year. Respectively, the programs aid at-risk students from low-income areas and provide additional professional development for teachers. Catholic school students and teachers participate equitably in both. Despite the Trump Administration's stated intent to defund Title II-A, it will carry on into the 2017-18 school year.

Importantly for Catholic schools, the new funding bill implements a few ESSA-related provisions in the Title programs:
  1. Proportionate Share: Since the Department of Education will now be able to provide full-year allocations to state education authorities (SEAs) - those SEAs will be able to provide proportionate share determinations to Catholic school representatives soon (see questions N. 8-10 on pg. 26). Be sure to ask for the state's determination of your shares early and often!
  2. Title IV: Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants are funded at $400 million and are "new" under ESSA as they consolidated a range of smaller grants. Read more about the program, which must be administered equitably to non-government school students and teachers, here.
  3. Full Teacher Funding: Title II-A's new requirement that the equitable services' share come from the entire budget, not just the allocation (set by the district) for professional development. This is big for Catholic school teachers as they can be more expansive in their options for training.
  4. Clarity: Even though ESSA's enhanced consultation provisions applied this upcoming year regardless of a funding bill, it is helpful to have it done as now there is one fewer thing for your local district to misunderstand about ESSA and equitable services. If you are having trouble, show the district staff this letter from ED about equitable services and the ombudsman. 

For more about transition and what you should be doing, see our ESSA Transition for Catholic Schools.
Catholic Advocates Hit the Hill
Your author has the distinct honor of annually convening the Federal Assistance Advisory Commission of Catholic school superintendents and policy directors here in Washington, D.C. Last week, we held a day-long discussion group on Wednesday and then advocated before Congress and the Department of Education on Thursday. If you see the news above and below - our message was heard!
Glenn Tebbe, Gina Fleming, and Rep. Luke Messer April 27, 2017
Hoosiers Glenn Tebbe, Rep. Luke Messer, and Gina Fleming
DC Kids Set to SOAR
The Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act, reauthorizing the District of Columbia's scholarship program for low-income families, was included in the spending deal reached this week. The three-year reauthorization falls slightly short of the USCCB's goal of five years' worth of certainty for these families, but is welcome news nonetheless. The students in this program continue to thrive and change their communities as well as the trajectory of their own lives. See the Reading List for a piece explaining a recent study of the DCOSP.

On Wednesday morning, President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Education Secretary DeVos hosted Scholarship students at the White House - watch the video, with remarks from a Georgetown Visitation senior.

Eating Locally
The new USDA Secretary, Sonny Perdue, relaxed enforcement of sodium, whole grains, and milk requirements under the school lunch program. The interim final rule was presented as allowing states more flexibility in meeting the goals of the program. For more, please see USDA's press release.

Reading List

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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