USCCB SECRETARIAT OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION

3211 4TH STREET NE, WASHINGTON, DC 20017

CE NEWS

CE News: December 2015

Inside This Issue

Associate Director of Public Policy

Every Student Succeeds Act

Resources

Catholic Education Homepage

Government Relations Homepage

CE News Homepage

Dear Colleagues,

Please join me in welcoming Mr. Greg Dolan as the new Associate Director of Public Policy for the Secretariat of Catholic Education. Greg comes to us with several years of policy and legislative experience on Capitol Hill. He has worked on both the House and Senate sides in Congress in such areas as education, housing, immigration, pro-life and telecommunications. Greg has also worked with the National School Choice community in communicating education policy at the federal and state levels as it pertains to school choice initiatives.

Greg is originally from Pittsburgh. He is a product of Catholic schools and has dual majors in Classical Studies and Economics from George Washington University. He and his wife are members of St. Patrick's here is Washington DC.

As many of you are aware and watching this week, Greg is coming to the office right at the height of the ESSA and DCOSP reauthorizations. We are grateful for the previous work of Kathy Knight and Lucas Swanepoel toward these legislative efforts and anticipate being able to share all of this experience and information with Greg to support his task in taking up the office at this time. We are grateful for your collaboration on federal and state policy and welcome your communication and insights to our office any time. I look forward to introducing Greg to the wider national Catholic school community over the coming months.

Again, join me in welcoming Greg Dolan as Associate Director of Public Policy. You are in my prayers during this upcoming Year of Mercy and, most especially, during this Advent Season.

In Christ,

Sr. John Mary Fleming, OP

Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177)

Congress will be taking up Every Student Succeeds Act this week. It is anticipated that the House will vote on ESSA (S. 1177) sometime today and it is expected that the Senate will take it up very soon thereafter. USCCB, CAPE, NCEA, and numerous other organizations are in support of the private school provisions of the bill. In a letter to Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative John Kline, Archbishop George Lucas, Chairman of the Committee on Catholic Education urged support for ESSA stating that the bill "improves the conditions connected with providing services for students and teachers in religious, private and independent schools." The Archbishop also noted, "The Every Student Succeeds Act's provisions related to improving access to services to students in need and their teachers, regardless of where they attend school, makes a substantial contribution to putting the needs of students and their families first."

We will keep you informed about the developments of this most important legislation as it makes its way through Congress.