Being a member of the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools entitles you to receive this issue of the Electronic Report.  The purpose of this Report is to provide brief synopses of developments with the Illinois Coalition of Non-Public Schools, legislative updates, and information of interest to our nonpublic school administrators.  Additional information may be obtained by following the hyperlinks that are imbedded throughout the Report. 

ADVOCATING FOR NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS

ICNS is the  “voice of non-public education in Illinois.”  In order to make our “voice” as loud as we can when addressing the needs of nonpublic schools, we need your help. As we end the 2007 calendar year, we are making one more call for renewed membership in ICNS. Again this year, the membership dues are just  $50.  If you have already renewed your membership, we thank you for your school’s support. If not, access the memberships form on the ICNS web site, and send it in today.  With your membership in ICNS, our “voice” can be heard.  You will also continue to receive your monthly issue of the ICNS Electronic Report as a way of keeping you informed about issues that impact you as an administrator of a nonpublic school.

NONPUBLIC SCHOOL REGISTRATION, ENROLLMENT AND STAFF REPORT

The 2007-08 Nonpublic Registration, Enrollment and Staff Report (87-01) is available via IWAS at https://sec1.isbe.net/iwas and must be received by ISBE by December 31, 2007.   Nonpublic schools that have registered with ISBE at least once in the past must submit the data online using the ISBE web portal IWAS.  Nonpublic schools that have never registered with ISBE must submit their data by using the paper form 87-01 that is available at the following address:  http://www.isbe.net/research/pdfs/87-01_np_report.pdf. 

You will notice a difference in the online form this year.  Working with the ISBE staff, ICNS has had the reporting of special education students broken down into a per grade report.  This ensures that ISBE receives the data it needs for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and that our schools will also receive the proper amount in proportionate share under IDEA, as well as NCLB programs and the Textbook Loan Program.  Please remember that you should report as special education students, all children deemed eligible for special education services, not just those who have received such services.

SPENDING BILL KILLS TITLE IV

No program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reaches more religious and independent schools than Title V, Grants for Innovative Programs.  Yet when Congress last month approved its FY 2008 spending plan for education at a record $60.7 billion, it was somehow unable to find any funds at all to keep Title V alive, a program that this year costs $99 million, about two-tenths of one percent of the new spending package. Title V serves children in public and private schools by providing materials, equipment, and services to meet student needs as determined by local administrators. The program has been a staple of federal education assistance since the initial enactment of ESEA in 1965. In June 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the program in the landmark decision Mitchell v. Helms.

Within the private school community, Title V enjoys a long history of support because it provides for the equitable participation of private school students based on their share of a district’s enrollment. A recent survey by the U.S. Department of Education on the participation of students in federal programs confirmed the program’s popularity, finding that it affects 50 percent of private school students in ESEA-participating schools. But the program is not dead yet. Within days of its passage, President Bush vetoed the Labor- HHS-Education appropriations bill that Congress approved (though not because of Title V, which the president’s budget had also zeroed out). The veto and a failed effort by Congress to override it now leave lawmakers with two options: develop a compromise spending package that the president will sign, or enact one or more continuing resolutions, which would  keep existing programs intact at current funding levels, thus staving off Title V’s demise.

(CAPE Outlook, December 2007)

FAST FACT ABOUT PRIVATE SCHOOLS

A recent survey by the Wall Street Journal found that certain private schools “continue to hold sway” when it comes to “getting students into top universities.” The survey ranked 40 high schools—38 in the U.S. and two overseas—in terms of their success rate in having students attend eight highly selective colleges. According to the Journal, “The 10 schools that performed best in our survey are all private schools.” In fact, all but six of the 38 U.S. schools were private.

The survey looked at admissions patterns in Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago, and Johns Hopkins. All the targeted colleges “received a record number of applications last year.” Harvard, for example, “admitted an all-time low of 9 percent of applicants after receiving a record 23,000 applications.” The results of the survey were reported in an article entitled “How to Get Into Harvard,” published in the November 30 issue of the Wall Street Journal.

EDUCATION LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM

Congress has approved a college loan forgiveness program for a broad spectrum of public servants, including educators in private and public schools, employees of nonprofit organizations, government workers and others.  Click on this link to go the  October CAPE Outlook publication which explains these substantial benefits.  Please pass this on to teachers working with paying off college loans.  They may be eligible to receive some loan forgiveness.

Following a discussion at the most recent of the ICNS board, questions were raised about how this may actually apply to some of our younger teachers in our schools.  What follows is a summary of the discussion that hopefully will assist you in sharing the information with your teachers. 

·         This program is available for undergrad and graduate studies.

·         Only Federal Direct Loans are eligible for forgiveness. Federal Direct loans include federal direct Stafford loans (subsidized or not), federal direct Grad PLUS loans, or a federal direct consolidated loan.

·         Section 203 (b)(1)(B) of the new law states that borrowers have the right to consolidate government guaranteed loans that do not qualify for loan forgiveness into a federal direct loan that does, and then be eligible for this program. Government guaranteed loans include federal Perkins loans, FFEL Stafford loans (subsidized or not), and certain other federally guaranteed loans made by banks and other institutions. In other words, government subsidized loans may be converted into a federal direct loan.

·         Section 401 of the act states: the balance of a federal direct loan will be forgiven after the borrower has made 120 payments, after October 1, 2007 so long as these 120 payments are made while the borrower is working in a qualifying public service position.

·         Any payments made on a federal direct loan or on another loan that has been converted to a federal direct loan before October 1, 2007 does not count toward the 120 payments that must be made after October 1, 2007.

·         Persons who have already paid substantial amounts toward their college debt prior to October 1, 2007 may not necessarily benefit from this loan forgiveness program and need to do the math to figure out whether they would financially benefit by consolidating loans or opting for lower payment plans.

NONPUBLIC SCHOOL RECOGNITION PROGRAM CHALLENGE

The ISBE Nonpublic School Recognition Program has been led by Mr. Gary Miller for the past couple years.  He has done a great job for nonpublic schools.  Gary Miller has recently been transferred from the Nonpublic School Recognition staff at ISBE.  That means they are out of staff.  Nonpublic School Recognition visits have been put on hold until more staff can be hired and trained.  If your school is scheduled for a visit this year you will likely receive a notice postponing your visit. 

LEGISLATIVE NEWS – MONEY FOR NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS

How does approximately $32 a student to pay for health and safety measures in school sound?  That is what is at stake!  If the Governor signs the recently passed SB 783, which opens the School Safety Block Grant to nonpublic schools, each of our schools will receive roughly $32 a student annually to pay for health and safety measures -- this could include the costs of background checks, school nurses, fire safety equipment, etc. 

There is some concern that the Governor may use his amendatory veto power with this bill. Please CALL or USE THE LINK BELOW to express your concern to the Governor's office.  Identify yourself and the school you are from and ask him to "sign Senate Bill 783 so that nonpublic schools can receive reimbursement for mandated health and safety measures.  The health and safety of our children are as important as any!"

The Governor's office numbers are:

    217-782-0244 in Springfield

    312-814-2121 in Chicago

You can also express your concerns via electronic message, here: http://www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm

EDUCATION IN THE NEWS

A new study by the Educational Testing Service concludes that an awful lot of those low scores can be explained by factors that have nothing to do with schools. The study, "The Family: America's Smallest School," suggests that a lot of the failure has to do with what takes place in the home, the level of poverty and government's inadequate support for programs that could make a difference, like high-quality day care and paid maternity leave.The E.T.S. researchers took four variables that are beyond the control of schools: The percentage of children living with one parent; the percentage of eighth graders absent from school at least three times a month; the percentage of children 5 or younger whose parents read to them daily, and the percentage of eighth graders who watch five or more hours of TV a day. Using just those four variables, the researchers were able to predict each state's results on the federal eighth-grade reading test with impressive accuracy. "Together, these four factors account for about two-thirds of the large differences among states," the report said. http://www.districtadministration.com/newssummary.aspx?news_date=2007-12-11&news_id=48908#top