Unfortunately, there are no encouraging signs that the partisan gridlock that paralyzed the last congress will yield to a balanced and bipartisan approach to passage of legislation impacting a range of issues, including education, in the new 118h Congress. This Congress includes many new members, 76 Representatives and eight Senators, with slim majorities in both chambers.
The chairpersons of the education committees in each chamber have changed. Republican leadership of the House has flipped the control of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, so now the chair is Virginia Foxx (R-NC), serving as such for the fourth time. The ranking member is Bobby Scott (R-VA), the former chair. In the Senate, Bernie Sanders (D-VT) is the chair and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) of the Senate Health, Education and Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP). The chairpersons have differing views on the role of the federal government in education and the place of private and faith-based school issues and concerns. With a great deal of change, particularly among key staff personnel on the education committees, the private school association representatives in Washington, D.C. are working to establish new relationships to advance the interests of their constituents.
The House Committee on Education has met to set priorities for its work. Regarding education issues, the focus is primarily on higher education with emphasis on reforming the loan forgiveness/cancellation policies of the Biden administration. Title IX and protection of women’s sports programs and protection of free speech on college campuses are high priorities. The K-12 issues of concern to faith-based and private schools the committee supports are the protection of the rights of parents to control the education of their children and the promotion of school choice. The Parental Bill of Rights Act is designed to protect the right of parents to know what their child is being taught in the classroom as well as their right to be heard in policy decisions. The primary initiative to promote choice is the re-introduction of the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) that did not move in the last Congress. The ECCA proposes a federal income tax credit, up to $10 billion annually, to provide a federal income tax credit to individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 private and public education. A companion bill is proposed in the Senate as well. Early childcare programs and the financing of student loans are two issues that the committee is expected to address.
The Senate HELP committee has, at this writing, not announced is priorities but has provided a roadmap based on prior pronouncements of Bernie Sanders while a member of HELP before becoming chair. Some attention will be paid to higher education issues such as interest rates on student loans and cancellation of student debt, Title IX and rights of LBGTQ students and free tuition at public colleges and universities. Private school advocates will be monitoring bills that provide early childhood care programs and free universal pre-K for 3–4-year-olds to assure private schools may participate without compromise to their independence and religious liberty.
From the national perspective, the other branches of the federal government may provide some opportunities for private schools. While President Biden’s State of the Union address did not indicate that the administration will expend much political capital on education issues that will include private and faith-based schools, there were some indications that there may be opportunities for families of private school students: reducing student debt, increasing Pell grants for working- and middle-class families, access to free tuition for two years of community college and student mental health and well-being, funded with $1 billion to help schools hire more mental health and student support professionals. However, he gave greater attention to other issues: public school teacher pay raises, improvements to public school buildings, expanded career training in public schools and protections for LGBTQ youth.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not announced a decision as to whether it will grant certiorari to two petitions that may have consequences for private and faith-based schools. Following the court’s decisions in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (2017), Espinoza v. Montana (2020) and Carson v. Makin (2022) that the Constitution prohibits the government from excluding religious organizations from public benefit programs, the attorney general of Oklahoma declared that denying a charter school because it is religious is unconstitutional and will allow them to operate in Oklahoma. An additional issue about the nature of charter schools has been raised in a case in North Carolina. That question whether a charter school that is privately operated but publicly funded in a public (“state actor”) or private institution. How that issue is resolved may control not only how a charter school is impacted by state and federal regulations but also whether a faith-based school receiving public funds may be considered a “state actor.”
There is much more encouraging news regarding parental choice in education among the states. Bold initiatives called Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) have been enacted or are in process in several states. These programs are operated in accordance with the legislation authorizing them in each state and may differ accordingly from state to state. In general, an ESA deposits all or a portion of what would be the per pupil public school educational expenditure into a restricted savings account, accessed through an online platform, from which the family may draw funds to expend on approved educational expenses, such as tuition, fees and other learning services and materials. In 2022, Arizona created a universal ESA that is open to any family, regardless of income level. This January, Iowa and Utah created universal programs and governors in Arkansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Texas and Oklahoma are considering enacting them as well. Currently 32 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have some education choice programs that include tax credit scholarships, vouchers or state tax credits/deductions for educational expenses.
All children deserve a high-quality education that best fits the needs of that child. NCEA supports the concept of full and fair parental choice in education which is supported by tax relief, voucher, scholarships and other aid to parents so they may seek the educational opportunities they want for their children. In support of that, NCEA collaborates with other private and faith-based organizations, to advance Catholic and private school interests in legislative activities on Capitol Hill and with the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies regarding education policy issues impacting private schools, such as school choice, federal resources for health, violence prevention and equitable services for Catholic and private school students and teachers.
Sr. Dale McDonald, PBVM, PhD is the NCEA vice president of public policy.
Sister Dale McDonald, PBVM, Ph.D.mcdonald@ncea.org