California Association of Private School Organizations 

CAPSO Midweek E-Mailer 

March 23, 2011Volume 5, Number 20 
In This Issue

-- New Life for D.C. Scholarship Program?

-- You're Kidding Me, Right?

-- Quick Takes

-- A Trip to D.C.

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New Life for D.C. Scholarship Program?
A bill that would reauthorize the nation's only federally funded voucher program for an additional five years was recently passed out of a House of Representatives committee, and is slated to make its way to that chamber's floor before the end of the month.  A breakdown of committee member votes can be found, here.  The measure, bearing the title, Scholarships for Opportunities and Results act (SOAR), is championed by Speaker of the House John Boehner, who has declared the bill to be of such personal importance that it is the only piece of legislation to which he will attach his name this year. 
  
Mr. Boehner credits his own Catholic school education as a decisive factor in his own life.  One of twelve children raised in suburban Cincinnati, the Speaker famously tears up when recounting the life journey that led him from sweeping floors in the tavern owned by his parents to becoming the most powerful member of the U.S. Congress. 
  
According to this Washington Post article, "Boehner said that Obama's willingness to compromise on the D.C. measure would foster goodwill, and perhaps smooth the path for Obama's ambitious school reform agenda, which includes revising the No Child Left Behind law."  The Speaker was quoted as saying, "It's human nature. He's got things that are important to him; I've got things that are important to me."  At this year's State of the Union Address - his first as Speaker - Mr. Boehner filled his suite above the House floor with Catholic school students, teachers, and parents hailing from his home district.
  
Washington DC's public schools are among the lowest performing in the nation.  On the 2009 administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as "The Nation's Report Card," just

17 percent of DC fourth grade students could read proficiently, while only 13 percent of the District's eighth graders scored at or above the proficient or advanced level."

  
The bill extending the life of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program faces opposition from the teachers unions and others.  Testifying before a Congressional committee, District of Columbia delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said, "We are not your lab rats.  Don't choose us for what we are not. We demand to be treated as full American citizens, not as your laboratory for your ideological preferences."
  
At the same time, Mr. Boehner's bill has attracted some significant co-signers, including Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, and California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.  The text of the bill can be found, here (click "Continue to GPO Site" to access the bill text in PDF format).  If you'd like to weigh in on the upcoming House vote, you can contact your U.S. Representative using CAPE's Legialative Action Center, here.
You're Kidding Me, Right? 
At first, I thought the article had been published in the Harvard Lampoon. But no, it was the venerable Harvard Crimson, and the story was for real.  A New York mother is suing a preschool, claiming its curriculum may have hurt her four-year-old daughter's chances of gaining acceptance to an Ivy League college.  (No, I'm not making this up.)  You can read the New York Daily News' acccount of the story, here.
  
The mom, Nicole Imprescia, alleges that her daughter, Lucia, was placed in a group of children half her age, and forced to participate in activities such as learning to differentiate shapes and colors, that were beneath Lucia's intellectual acumen.  The lawsuit maintains that, "the school proved not to be a school at all, but just one big playroom."  Commenting on the legal action, Ms. Imprescia's attorney, Mathew Paulose, added, "This is about a theft where a business advertises as one thing and is actually another.  They're nabbing $19,000 and making a run for it."  The sum is a reference to the annual tuition charged by York Avenue Preschool, a tony, Upper East Side early education center, playroom, or, whatever.
  
Apparently, Ms. Imprescia read an article making the case that a child's early education experience was a key factor in subsequent preparedness for admission to elite colleges and universities.  According to information posted on its website, York Avenue Preschool claims to offer a curriculum that is, "...designed for the specific age group: Twos, Threes or Fours."  When little Lucia was lumped together with two-year-old tykes, it is unclear whether her mother's first thought was breach of contract, or there goes Harvard!
She withdrew Lucia from the preschool one month into the program year, which runs from early September to early June, and asked for her money back.  The school refused, and you know the rest of the story...except for the fact that Nicole Imprescia is also seeking class action status for her legal action. 
Quick Takes 
It's SNOR Time!
  
As acronyms go, this one's a real sleeper.  SNOR stands for Student National Origin Report.  Its purpose is to produce an annual count of eligible immigrant students as required by Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  Funding for Title III - whose programs are intended to support English language learners - is determined in part, by the information generated by the SNOR.  Students enrolled in private schools that fail to file a SNOR will become ineligible for receipt of services.  Failure to complete the SNOR will also result in diminished levels of assistance for students enrolled in other private schools who may wish to participate.

 

Every private school with an affidavit currently on file should have recently received this letter from the California Department of Education, in which the procedure for filing the SNOR is described, and the private school password required for online filing of the form is provided.  The window for filing the SNOR runs from March 15 to April 15.  If you have questions about the SNOR, or seek additional information, please contact Erin Koepke at the California Department of Education, either by phone (916-323-5467), or via e-mail

 

Disaster in Japan - Resources

 

In the days and weeks ahead, we are certain to see an increase in the number of dead and injured in the aftermath of the multiple, catastrophic events endured by Japan.  Our students and children will, undoubtedly, be exposed to ongoing graphic images of massive destruction and heartbreaking human suffering.  Given California's susceptibility to earthquakes, the tragic events in Japan may produce significant anxiety, particularly among the young.  With such susceptibility in mind, the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement has produced a document titled: Tip Sheet for Japan - Talking to Children About the Disaster, which can be accessed, here. The document also contains links to other relevant web-based resources. 

 

In Praise of Humor
  
Where would be be, and who would we be without humor?  Given the tragic events that continue to unfold in Japan, the upheaval in the Middle East, global economic uncertainty, and the challenges presented by lingering high rates of unemployment on the home front, it is comforting to note that even in ultra-serious Washington, D.C. one can still find a healthy amount of self-effacing humor.  With that in mind, here are the "top three" chuckle producing quips heard by this reporter during his recent trip to our nation's capital:
  
3.  Washington DC:  A place of southern efficacy and northern charm.

 

2.  Washington is a place where leaders can frequently be seen strolling down Lover's Lane holding their own hands.

 

1.  Washington is the home of alchemy-in-reverse.  You send your gold there, and they turn it into junk.
A Trip to D.C.
Last week I spent several days in Washington, D.C., where I participated in the annual winter meeting of the State-CAPE Network.  During the course of our time in the nation's capital, my colleagues and I heard a number of briefings provided by members of Congress, legislative staff, think tank analysts, political operatives, and staff from the U.S. Department of Education.  The hottest topics of discussion: tax credit legislation, charter schools, education spending, and the long-anticipated reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The predictions concerning federal education spending appear to be fairly uniform: in the best case, spending will remain flat; in the worst case, education appropriations will be reduced, significantly.  No one is willing to place bets on which programs will emerge as "winners," and which will end up as "losers," though there seems to be consensus that Title I - the backbone of the landmark federal education law - will remain whole.

 

Discussions surrounding the Congressional impasse over the current fiscal year budget had an uncannily familiar ring.  At times, I thought I was in Sacramento, where deeply entrenched partisan differences are pointing in the direction of gridlock, yet again.  Not only do most Republicans and most Democrats fail to see eye-to-eye, there is also a rift within the Republican party over the breadth and depth of desired reductions in spending, where a substantial number of freshmen legislators believe they were sent to Washington with a mandate to effect immediate budget cuts that are both wide and deep.  The upshot of all the divisiveness is that neither party has been able to move a comprehensive spending plan for the remainder of the current fiscal year out of the Senate.  It now appears that lawmakers are close to agreement on a second stop-gap measure to keep the government operating until April 8.

There is cautious optimism that ESEA will be reauthorized this year.  Speaking at a nearby public school last week, President Obama underscored his desire that Congress complete the re-writing of the law so that its provisions will be ready to take effect prior to the outset of the new school year.  While some see this as possible, others are less sanguine, saying there is greater likelihood that the current year will see the introduction of several bills aimed at "cleaning up" some of the least desirable features of No Child Left Behind - the name bestowed upon ESEA by the George W. Bush administration.  Unless the current law is changed, many thousands of additional schools will soon become subject to punitive action.  That factor, alone, is likely to induce near-term changes to the manner in which "adequate yearly progress" is calculated, and the way in which the assessment of English Learners and students with special needs impacts overall assessment determinations. 

How can private schools be expected to fare in light of the current political realities?  Frankly, I'm worried.  We have already seen Congress eliminate funding for several ESEA programs that provided longstanding benefits to private school students and teachers.  Among these are Title V, Part A (Innovative Programs), and Title IV, Part A (Safe and Drug Free Schools). 

 

If the Obama Administration has its way, Title II, Part A will be folded into a new program titled "Effective Teachers and Leaders," as part of a broader process of program consolidation.  Currently, Title II, Part A is funded on a formula basis.  The program supports professional development programs and activities designated by private school officials through a process of ongoing consultation with local public school officials.  The Administration's preference is that the reauthorization of ESEA will convert the program to a competitive grant model, along the lines of the Race to the Top Fund.  Should that happen, private school participation would be placed in jeopardy.

At a March 14, 2011 meeting at the U.S. Department of Education, representatives of state organizations affiliated with the Council for American Private Education - CAPSO is CAPE's California state affiliate - were briefed by Jim Shelton, an Assistant Deputy Secretary with a distinguished career, who heads the Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement.  While addressing a potential shift from formula to competitive grants, Mr. Shelton pointed to the Investing in Innovation Fund as an example of successful collaboration between public and private schools.  When asked to provide examples of such collaboration, however, Mr. Shelton's response was somewhat less than reassuring.  After first mentioning a collaborative proposal in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which went unfunded, the only example he was able to recount was one involving a single private school in rural Mississippi.
  
Possibly sensing a degree of unease in the room, Mr. Shelton assured us that "84 percent of ESEA program funding will continue to be allocated through forumula grants."  However, as one shrewd audience member quickly noted, the entirety of that amount is represented by Title I funding.
  
The bottom line is that uncertainty rules the day.  Members of both parties still appear committed to federal education policy that holds schools accountable for demonstrating progress toward narrowing the "achievement gap."  But there's significantly greater agreement about what's wrong with the current law than there is about what a new law should look like, let alone how much it should cost.  And while the principle of equitable participation for private school students appears to stand firm when applied to Title I, all other programs are subject to change.  If and when the time comes, it will behoove the private school community to defend the application of that principle to other programs, in a clear and coherent voice. 
  
More on charter schools and tax credits in future editions.
  
Stay tuned!
  
Ron Reynolds