April 2018 • Number 434 Council for American Private Education outlookVoice of America’s private schools ★ President Signs Omnibus Spending Bill Affecting Private Schools onths after the due date, Congress now calculated based on a school district’s equitable services to private school stu- Mfinally passed, and the president total Title I allocation. dents and their families. signed, a sweeping spending bill in March Congress also approved a huge $700 Programs that serve English language to fund the government through Septem- million increase in spending for Title IV- learners and migrant children, regardless of ber 30, 2018. A, which provides Student Support and the school they attend, would be funded at By rights, the agreement should have Academic Enrichment Grants (SSAEG). the same levels as 2017. been reached prior to October 1, 2017, the Those grants may be used to ensure safe Since all of these education programs start of the current fiscal year, but congres- and healthy students, well-rounded edu- are “forward funded,” the money approved sional friction forced a series of stopgap cational opportunities, and the effective in the omnibus spending package would measures, called continuing resolutions, to use of technology—all through a variety be used for programs in the coming 2018- keep the government running up 19 school year. to March 23, the date the new law Federal Education Spending Levels for was signed. Some Programs Affecting Private School Students CCDBG The omnibus spending mea- (in millions of dollars) In a remarkable expansion in sure, known as the Consolidated FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 early education, the spending bill Appropriations Act, 2018, includes would increase funding for the funds for several programs that Title I-A (Grants to LEAs) $14,910 $15,460 $15,760 Child Care and Development provide services to students and Title I-C (Migrant Education) $375 $375 $375 Block Grant (CCDBG) program teachers in religious and indepen- by $2.4 billion, essentially dou- $2,256 $2,056 $2,056 dent schools (see table). Two of Title II-A (Teacher Quality) bling funding to $5.2 billion. The those programs involve relatively Title III-A (English Language) $737 $737 $737 program allows parents to use new funding formulas for calcu- Title IV-A (Support Grants) $0 $400 $1,100 federal certificates to choose the lating benefits to private school child care program that best meets students and teachers—formulas Title IV-B (Learning Centers) $1,167 $1,192 $1,212 their child’s needs—faith-based, revised when the Elementary and Special Ed (IDEA Part B) $11,913 $12,003 $12,278 Montessori, Waldorf, or any other Secondary Education Act (ESEA) public or private program. Career Ed (Perkins Act) $1,118 $1,118 $1,193 was reauthorized in 2015. CCDBG focuses on the care of means best suited to local needs. States of children under the age of 13 while their Title II-A Retained and districts receiving funds under Title parents work or participate in training ESEA’s Title II-A, for example, which IV-A must provide equitable services to or education programs. Allowable care funds professional development for teach- students and teachers in private schools. includes that provided in centers or pro- ers and administrators, now requires school grams, or by relatives or neighbors. The districts to set aside for services to private IDEA Increased program does not cover the cost of com- school personnel a proportionate share The Individuals with Disabilities Educa- pulsory schooling. of their total allocation. The new budget tion Act (IDEA), which serves children agreement calls for $2 billion for Title with special needs in public and private STOP School Violence II-A, a relief because the president had ear- schools, would see spending levels in- In the aftermath of recent school shoot- marked the program for elimination. Back creased by $275 million. ings, Congress had a heightened concern in December, CAPE launched a campaign Career and technical education funds, about school safety. In addition to bolster- to urge members of Congress to retain and which school districts, upon the request of ing funds for Title IV-A, the omnibus bill fund the program at its current level. private school officials, may use to provide also included a new measure called the Title I, which covers supplemental services to secondary school students in Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing services to low-performing children in private schools, would also see a marginal (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018. The high-poverty areas, will be funded at $15.8 increase, as would 21st Century Com- STOP Act authorizes grants to states and billion, an increase of $300 million from munity Learning Centers. Private schools units of local government (e.g., coun- FY 2017. Funds for Title I services to are eligible to apply for the learning-center ties, municipalities, towns, etc.) to bolster children attending private schools are also grants, and grant recipients must provide continued on page 2 © 2018 Council for American Private Education Becket Director Talks to CAPE Group About Religious Liberty The Wall Street Journal recently described cial assistance for religious schools. “Across the Montse Alvarado as “an amiable 30-year-old country, Blaine amendments have been used by Mexican-American woman…on the front lines anti-religious activists to keep religious organiza- CAPE member organizations: of America’s culture wars.” Ms. Alvarado firmly tions from participating in neutral and generally Agudath Israel of America established why she deserves that description applicable government programs on equal terms American Montessori Society during a friendly yet thought-provoking address with everyone else,” she said. to leaders of CAPE’s member organizations and Association Montessori Battle in New Mexico International–USA state affiliates on March 12 in Washington, D.C. Association of Christian Schools Alvarado is executive director of the Becket In New Mexico, Becket is involved in a International Fund for Religious Liberty, described on its Web Blaine amendment battle over whether the state’s Association of Christian site as a “non-profit, public-interest legal and ed- supreme court ruled correctly when in 2015 it Teachers and Schools ucational institute with a mission to protect the determined that providing state-purchased text- Association of Waldorf free expression of all faiths.” books and other instructional Schools of N.A. Her speech to the CAPE materials to students in private Christian Schools International community covered an array schools was unconstitutional. Council of Islamic Schools of contemporary religious lib- The state’s Blaine amendment in North America erty challenges and included says that no state funds “shall Council on Educational Standards a call to build a coalition to be used for the support of any and Accountability address those challenges and sectarian, denominational or Evangelical Lutheran Church defend that liberty. private school, college or uni- in America versity.” Friends Council on Education No Religion Is an Island However, the U.S. Supreme Islamic Schools League of America Reminding the CAPE Court last June vacated the Jesuit Schools Network group that “no religion is an New Mexico ruling and told Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod island,” Alvarado definitively the state court to reconsider declared, “If I don’t have re- Montse Alvarado, executive director of the matter in light of the land- National Association of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. ligious liberty, you don’t have mark Trinity Lutheran deci- Episcopal Schools (Becket Photo) National Association of religious liberty.” She spoke sion, which prevented the state Independent Schools of the need to work together of Missouri from excluding a National Catholic and team up, even with people with whom we private school from a neutral and secular grant Educational Association disagree, in order to “uphold the pure principles program for playground resurfacing materials. National Christian School Association of our constitution.” The Trinity decision was only one example Oral Roberts University The fight for religious liberty, she said goes to that Alvarado recounted of a legal victory in Educational Fellowship the core of who we are. “I believe we are people support of religious liberty. Others involved Seventh-day Adventist who believe in truth, even if we disagree over the successful resolution of a challenge against Board of Education what truth is,” she said. Religion, which involves religiously-based prison ministries in Florida and United States Conference of the pursuit of “truth, beauty, and goodness,” is a reversal by FEMA of a ban on disaster aid for Catholic Bishops not some “terrible thing” from which “govern- houses of worship. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran ment has to protect us.” “We’re winning,” she declared, and “the only Synod Schools Connecting the work of Becket with that of way to keep winning is to share the stories” of Affiliated State Organizations CAPE, Alvarado turned to efforts to combat people and organizations that are being harmed state Blaine amendments, which bar state finan- by religious bias. a coalition of national associations serving private schools K-12 continued from page 1 Executive Director: Joe McTighe school safety. Grant recipients may then award administered through various agencies, including subgrants or contracts to school districts or non- the Department of Justice, the Department of Outlook is published monthly profit agencies