Since the inception of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, Catholic schools have been included in federal education benefits. Federal benefits is a catch-all term for programs funded by the federal government through legislation and then administered by a federal agency such as the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).
Participation in federal benefits does not give the USDE jurisdiction over private elementary and secondary schools or home schools. The regulation of private schools is primarily the responsibility of state and local governments. The Department of Education Organization Act expressly prohibits the department from exercising “any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system….”
The USDE benefits are provided to students and educational personnel in Catholic schools in the form of goods and services. The programs are based on a two-pronged process: child benefit (services are to students and their teachers, not a direct benefit to the school) and public trusteeship (the local public school district (LEA) controls the funds and works with private school officials to select and pay for the services — no funds are given to the school directly).
The ESEA law, amended several times and now known as Every Student Succeeds Act, details the benefits for which private schools may apply and describes them as “equitable services.” The regulations and guidance documents accompanying the law outline steps for the process of providing equitable services. The general framework is that the LEA receiving funds under an applicable ESEA program is required to reserve a proportional share of funds for equitable services and share with private school officials how that was calculated. The funds must be expended for services to address the needs of their private school students, educational personnel and, in some programs, families. The LEA is required to engage in timely and meaningful consultation with private school officials regarding the development, design and implementation of services.
A simple way to assess whether equitable services have been provided is to consider these points: has the LEA provided benefits that meet the needs of the private school students and teachers in a timely manner; has the LEA provided private school students and teachers with an opportunity to participate in activities equitable to the opportunity provided public school students and teachers; are the funds generated for equitable services equal on a per-pupil basis compared to services and benefits provided in public schools; has the LEA provide services with costs that are allowable, necessary and reasonable.
Over the years, Catholic and other private school officials have experienced different degrees of assistance and difficulty in accessing equitable services for their students and educational personnel. The consultation process whereby the school requests services from their LEA is the key to success or failure. The term “timely and meaningful consultation” is what has been used to guide the process. Often it meant whatever the LEA wanted it to mean, so in the last authorization of ESEA, language was included to direct the process more fairly. The goal of the consultation process is to reach agreement between the LEA and private school officials about services and their delivery in a timeframe comparable to that of public schools. Greater transparency is built into the consultation requirements and every state must appoint an ombudsman to monitor the provision of equitable services.
Despite these efforts to enable more Catholic school students and teachers to participate in programs, there are still issues that impede equity in services. While it is easy, and likely accurate, to blame the LEA for some of the problems, we must admit some failings on the part of Catholic school personnel as well. In the annual report NCEA produces, diocesan data about participation in eligible programs indicate inconsistencies among programs – large numbers of students in some programs but small numbers in other programs for which they would qualify. This is a serious problem when these lack participation in programs — such as tutoring and English language services would deny benefits to low-income and students at risk for whom these services are designed to assist academic achievement.
Private school advocates in Washington, D.C. have been monitoring implementation of ESEA and have raised issues with the USDE as well as the education committees in both House and Senate. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was tasked by the chairwoman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of Representatives (Virginia Foxx) with investigating the challenges that selected private schools and school districts face related to equitable services. Selected private school leaders (NCEA included) were interviewed by GAO and described challenges managing equitable services. Almost all of those interviewed said private schools faced challenges receiving equitable services, such as the amount or quality of services. They also cited a process that is complex and time consuming and an administrative burden that deters private school officials from participation. Another factor concerns challenges identifying and counting eligible children and working with and across multiple school districts.
The report makes several recommendations to USDE, including needing to provide more guidance and training for ombudsman charged with oversite of equitable services as well as suggestions for mitigating their workload and addressing the impartiality concern raised by the private school representatives. It also recommends the need for better guidance regarding timeframes for resolving appeals when services are denied by the LEA or state education department. A link to the GAO report can be found at NCEA.org/publicpolicy under Current Issues.
Catholic and other private school associations and their advocacy leaders will be following up with USDE on implementation of the report. These leaders work with USDE and Congress to have their schools included in the federal programs that provide equitable services. It is challenging to convince many lawmakers that private school students need and benefit from these programs. Sadly, sometimes it is also challenging to get private schools to utilize them completely and effectively. Private school officials carry the burden for obtaining these programs through the consultation process. This requires knowledge of the programs and regulations and the development of a working relationship with the LEA. Information needed to assist with the process is available on the NCEA public policy webpage.
Catholic school superintendents and principals must be proactive about participation in federal programs and advocate for their equitable share of services. These are benefits that are funded by students’ parents’ tax dollars (and private school personnel as well!) that are available to assist in the mission to educate all students, especially the those most in need of services to help them develop their potential.
Sister Dale McDonald, PBVM, Ph.D.mcdonald@ncea.org