At long last, the elections are history.  While most readers are probably ecstatic over the abrupt termination of the previously incessant stream of radio ads and television spots, the daily array of political "junk mail," and the flood of robot phone calls, some may be experiencing fits and bouts of post-election withdrawal.  You continue to check Real Clear Politics, Politico, Poll Watch, and/or The Hill.   With just such a malady in mind, this article is offered as a bridge intended to ease the way back from the contests to the classroom.

A recent EdSource article provides a series of questions and answers designed to trace the limits of appropriate political behavior conducted by teachers and public school boards.  Try your hand at the following:

Situation 1:  Is it permissible for a public school teacher to wear a button favoring a candidate or initiative to school?

Situation 2:  Is it permissible for a teacher to discuss an initiative or local ballot items in class?

Situation 3:  Is it permissible for a school board to pass a resolution endorsing an initiative or bond proposal?
 
Answer 1:  Yes, but such buttons should not be worn in the classroom, or in the presence of students.  Which pretty much restricts the wearing of such attire to the faculty lounge.

Answer 2:  Yes, as long as the teacher's presentation is objective, and offers fair and balanced consideration of both sides' points of view.  Such presentations should also be grade-appropriate.

Answer 3:  Yes, with qualifications.  In 1976, the California Supreme Court ruled in Stanson v. Mott that "a government agency may endorse a measure that is related to its expertise so long as it does not expend funds to promote its passage."
 
Private nonprofit schools must also exercise considerable caution when it comes to engagement in political speech by faculty and board members, particularly when such communications involve candidates for public office.  As EdSource suggests, the simplest advice to follow is, "campaign on your own dime and your own time."
 
Student speech is a whole other ball game.  As is observed in Liebert Cassidy Whitmore's An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law: "In California, the state legislature has determined that all high school students, including those in private schools, have the same free speech rights as they would have outside of school."  Private high schools may, however, impose "reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions" on students' speech, and schools controlled by a religious organization may impose additional limitations in accord with their religious tenets.  On this last point Liebert Cassidy Whitmore advises: "Religious schools should be sure to set standards of conduct in writing that are indicative of their religious principles."
 
Feel better?  Take comfort in the realization that the groundwork for the 2014 state and midterm elections is already being put in place.

The California Private School Advisory Committee, K-12 is pleased to announce several multi-day professional development workshops for private school educators.  Each of these high-quality-at-low-cost programs is funded in part by Title II, Part A of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and is provided in cooperation with the California Department of Education. 

Below, you will find basic information about each workshop. Please click on the relevant accompanying links for descriptions of each program's content, information about the presenters, and downloadable registration forms.












5680 N. Maroa
Fresno, CA  93704

St. Pius School
1100 Woodside Rd.
Redwood City, CA  94061

Democrats Achieve Supermajority

An election outcome that may surpass the passage of Proposition 30, and the defeat of Proposition 32 in terms of its long-term impact on the people of California is the achievement of a Democratic supermajority in both houses of the California legislature.  Democrats now control at least 2/3 of the votes in each house, an accomplishment that is noteworthy because it enables passage of legislation that increases taxes, assures Democratic legislators the ability to override a gubernatorial veto, makes it possible to bypass legislative rules and deadlines, and place proposed constitutional reforms on state ballots.  Some have attributed the achievement of a supermajority to the reform of primary elections, and redistricting.  The San Francisco Chronicle reports the story, here.

We'll have further commentary on this, and other state ballot outcomes in the next edition of the E-Mailer.  Meanwhile, if you wish to see how California voted on each of the state ballot initiatives (as well as the presidential race), here's a very cool map showing county-by-county results.  Note the bifurcation between coastal and interior portions of the state. 


Check Out CAPE's New Mini Ebook!


Hot off the electronic presses, CAPE's new mini ebook conveys the benefits of private schools through rich graphics and interactive charts. Available in iBook and PDF formats, Private Education: Good for Students, Good for Families, and Good for America compiles the latest facts, figures, and findings about religious and independent schools. Researchers and policymakers will find a convenient one-stop collection of data about the value of private education. Parents will find user-friendly information on how to choose a school. And the public at large will discover why private schools are a treasure worth preserving. Download this free and engaging resource, here.


Speaking of CAPE...

This month's edition of the CAPE Outlook electronic newsletter addresses a sobering piece of research probing the impact of charter schools upon surrounding private schools, while estimating the associated economic costs to the public when private schools are forced to close their doors. The study, conducted by Abraham M. Lackman, a scholar at Albany Law School's Government Law Center, focuses on New York Catholic Schools, but holds important implications for the national private school community.  The CAPE Outlook, published monthly during the course of the school year by the American Council for Private Education, is available at no cost (in PDF format), here.


LAUSD's RTTF Grant Application in Limbo Absent Union Support

Imagine the time, money and effort that went into the planning, researching and writing of a 150 page grant application for $44.3 million in federal funding provided via the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top Fund grants program for public school districts.  Now imagine the frustration experienced by Los Angeles Unified School District leaders upon learning that its proposal will be disqualified owing to the refusal of the local teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, to sign on to the application.  Federal grant application rules require a written commitment of support on the part of local teachers unions. 

Regardless, the nation's second largest public school district has decided to forge ahead with its application and let the chips fall where they may.  LAUSD's proposal is intended to boost the academic achievement of some 25,000 students enrolled in 35 low-performing middle and high schools.  According to the Los Angeles Times: "The district proposed personalized learning plans aided by digital tablets, summer school, learning projects linked to careers, anti-dropout counseling and other services."  UTLA President Warren Fletcher indicated that the union's opposition was tied to accompanying federal requirements that may have produced "greater risk than likely reward."  The Times updates the story, here.

Dear President Obama,
 
I offer my personal congratulations on the occasion of your election to a second term as President of the United States.  May you govern with wisdom and discernment for the sake of this great nation, and people of good will, everywhere. 

I cannot fathom what it must be like to run for the office of President of the United States, but can only imagine it to be beyond exhausting.  Please know that a great many of us feel a similar exhaustion, having tired of the bitter partisanship, incivility, and ill will made manifest by members of both parties over the course of a seemingly interminable campaign.  We are disheartened, as well, by the obscene amounts of money consumed by contemporary electoral politics.  In California alone, more than $120 million was spent by supporters and opponents of a ballot measure designed to balance the state budget.  At some point, Mr. President, the value of free speech becomes depreciated by wanton profligacy.  Perhaps now that you have run for office for the last time, you will encourage members of both parties to consider campaign reform legislation that addresses this matter, lest we all be the poorer for failure to do so...literally and figuratively.
 
Even before you begin your new term of office you will face the daunting challenges attendant to the "looming fiscal cliff" occasioned by the impending expiration of the "Bush tax cuts," and the automatic imposition of broad and deep reductions in federal spending, known as "sequestration."  This, at a time when economic growth remains as sluggish as the efforts made by members of Congress to reach across the aisle.

It would be tremendously heartening to see you launch your second term of office by championing a significant legislative accomplishment that was truly bipartisan.  And what better possibility for doing so, Mr. President, than a reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act, an achievement that is now seven years overdue. 

Though it now seems like ancient history, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was passed with the overwhelming support of Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress.  When the bill was signed into law by your predecessor, in January of 2002, the late Senator Ted Kennedy and Representative George Miller, both leading Democrats, flew to John Boehner's congressional district in Ohio to flank President Bush as he signed the bill into law.  Whatever NCLB's particular strengths and weaknesses, the flagship national education law was produced and owned by both parties, both houses of Congress, and the White House.  It was possible then, and it may well represent the most fertile ground for breaking the current gridlock that now threatens to paralyze Washington. 

If, together with Secretary of Education Duncan, you should decide to take a leadership role in moving the long-overdue reauthorization of ESEA forward, I urge you to keep private schools in mind.  The best possible way for you to do so would be to support adoption of the recommendations offered by the Council for American Private Education, which can be found, here.
 
I shouldn't need to sell you on the vital contributions of private, K-12 education to the welfare of our nation, Mr. President.  After all, you and the First Lady are private school parents.  You know from personal experience that private schools are good for students, good for families, and good for America.  Moreover, private schools address many of the concerns that are of greatest importance to you, not just as a parent, but as our president.
 
You are deeply concerned with the preservation and strengthening of the social safety net that endeavors to uphold the dignity of every human life.  Might I remind you that inner city faith-based schools throughout the nation have long served not only as institutions that have inspired, instructed and enabled successive generations of young people from the most challenging socio-economic circumstances to become productive, participating citizens, but as vital neighborhood and community anchors.  Sadly, vast numbers of these schools have either been forced to shut their doors, or to contemplate doing so.
 
Being of assistance to the nation's urban, faith-based schools makes good economic sense.  Every child that transfers from a shuttered private school to the public school just down the street, or around the corner represents an additional financial burden to the public.  In the aggregate, America's private schools save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars per annum.  Moreover, private schools generate private sector jobs, bolster neighborhood commerce, and generate revenue for a host of related enterprises.
 
Finally, Mr. President, private schools provide diversity, not only in terms of the students they enroll, but with respect to the philosophies that inform their unique missions and visions, and the ideas that animate their distinctive educational programs.  Private schools are laboratories for experimentation and innovation; our enterprise is progressive.  This being the case, you may wish to broaden opportunities for private school participation in signature education programs such as Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation, and others.
 
In short, Mr. President, private schools are partners in the education of the public.  Please keep us in mind as you prepare for your second term of office, and please consider private education to be very much in the public interest.
 
Sincerely,
 
Ron Reynolds

The next edition of the CAPSO Midweek E-Mailer will be published December 5, 2012.