The Electronic Report provides administrators with synopses of developments with the Illinois Coalition of Non-Public Schools, legislative updates, and information of interest for our members. It's not too late to become an ICNS member for the 2008-2009 school year. Annual dues are just $50.00. We know that sometimes, a school thinks they have renewed but the dues were never submitted. Make sure you check that you have joined as this will be the last issue of the Report you will receive. Click here for a copy of a membership application. Remember, ICNS is funded solely by its member schools.
To access back issues of the Electronic Report, you can go to the ICNS Web site at: http://www.icns.net/2008.html
The February 2009 issue of CAPE Outlook, a monthly newsletter from the Council for American Private Education, is available for download as a free PDF document at: http://www.capenet.org/pdf/Outlook342.pdf
In Outlook this month:
In the upcoming session, ICNS will be promoting legislative issues in key areas that would significantly benefit nonpublic schools.
Doubling the Education Expense Tax Credit from $500 to $1,000
By the latest tallies, there are 2,378,081 students enrolled in K through 12 schools in Illinois. State government will spend $7.65 billion this year to educate them. However, 11.2% of these students, or 265,276 children, are educated in non-public schools and cost the state virtually nothing. So what savings do these nonpublic school students provide the state? Using only the state’s foundation level of funding ($5,959 per pupil), which is the lowest possible measure, nonpublic schools save state taxpayers nearly $1.6 billion (or 21% of their current cost) annually.
Moreover, the state’s share of funding for public schools is only about 40% -- the remaining 60% of funds required to provide for a student’s public school education come primarily from local governments. There can be no doubt: a parent’s decision to send their child(ren) to nonpublic school, despite their contribution in property and other tax payments to the public schools, contributes prodigious savings to state and local governments.
Accordingly, since 1999, the state has offered a $500 Education Expense Tax Credit to help parents offset the cost of tuition, book and lab fees. The adoption of the tax credit by the Illinois legislature acknowledged the great work of nonpublic schools and the significant savings incurred by state and local governments when parents choose them. Yet rising tuition and property tax rates have quickly consumed the tax credit’s savings. The tax credit must be increased to $1,000 and the percentage of costs claimable expanded from 25% to 50%. Even if these changes doubled the total claims from $70 to $140 million annually, it would represent less than one percent of the savings nonpublic school families provide the state. Legislation will be introduced in both the House and Senate to affect this change.
Increased Funding for the Educational Improvement and School Safety Block Grant
Once the process of formulating the fiscal year 2010 budget commences, ICNS will urge the General Assembly to increase by $10.1 million the appropriation to the Educational Improvement and School Safety Block Grant (also known as the ADA Block Grant). This increase was included in the fiscal year 2008 budget passed by the General Assembly; unfortunately, Governor Blagojevich vetoed the increase, and it has not yet been restored. Money received from the ADA Block Grant allows public and nonpublic schools to implement otherwise unfunded health and safety mandates, such as criminal history records checks for employees, components of school crisis plans and the purchase of Automated External Defibrillators. The number and cost of local, state and federal health and safety mandates rises each year, and this block grant provides the easiest and most flexible method of reimbursement.
Increased Funding for the Parent/Guardian Transportation Reimbursement Program
This program was enacted into law by the General Assembly in 1986 and is designed to provide financial assistance to Illinois’ families with children, grades K-12, to whom free bussing is not provided for either logistical or safety reasons. Although the school code requires school districts to offer private school students bus transportation, the offer often is restricted to the existing public school routes and calendar that may not relate to the private school’s operations. So, due to rising gas prices and increasing encumbrances on school bus transportation, the General Assembly increased funding for this program by $14 million in the Fiscal Year 2007 budget; however, Governor Blagojevich vetoed this increase and $2 million more from the original line-item. The program’s funding is now $12 million providing roughly a $100 transportation reimbursement per student, far short of the actual costs of families driving their own children to school. ICNS urges the General Assembly to increase this program’s funding by $12 million in the FY 2010 budget.
((Information provided by Zach Wichmann Associate Director for Education, Catholic Conference of Illinois)
Every recognized nonpublic school should have received the first half of this year’s School Safety Grant reimbursement just after the New Year. If you have not received the money, please be sure to check your federal hot lunch and/or milk accounts. The state will deposit the money there because it is already set up as an electronic funds transfer (EFT) account. The reimbursement rate this year is $36.01 per pupil, and you can look up your schools reimbursement amount in the chart found here: www.isbe.net/funding/pdf/ADABlockGrantFY09.pdf
This form, which serves as your school’s registration with the state, is currently available on IWAS. It must be submitted by June 30, 2009, but I encourage principals to complete and submit the form as soon as practical. The submission of this form is necessary to pursue state recognition and the data provided also affects many stats and federal programs, such as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reimbursements. A reminder: ISBE has committed to catching up on last year’s canceled state recognition visits by conducting some 130 school recognition visits this year.
Home Schooling On The Rise
The number of American children who are home-schooled has risen 74 percent since 1999 and has risen 36 percent since 2003. One and a half million kids in this country are now home-schooled, and an expansion of reasons to select on the 2007 parental survey suggests that the demographics of homeschoolers are broadening beyond religious conservatives to include those who favor a non-traditional approach to education. Those who selected "other reasons" as an explanation for why they home-schooled their children rose to 30 percent in 2007 from 20 percent in 2003, and included family time and finances. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-04-homeschooling_N.htm
Rethinking The Notion Of Public vs. Private
In this Education Week commentary, Doug Tuthill writes that today's school
systems have exploded the historical definition of public education. He
describes an emerging public education system that embraces customization
and social entrepreneurship while defying traditional labels. In Tuthill's
view, “private is not always the enemy of public.”
In his epic
campaign for president, Mr. Obama promised to bridge the political divides
in America. He can begin by assuring public school educators that private
options are not an attack on the institution of public education. On the
contrary, when done well, they expand and strengthen it. “For decades,
[we’ve] been stuck in the same tired debates over education that have
crippled our progress and left schools and parents to fend for themselves,”
Mr. Obama
said on the campaign trail in
September. “It’s been Democrat versus Republican, vouchers versus the status
quo, more money versus more reform. … If we’re going to make a real and
lasting difference for our future, we have to be willing to move beyond the
old arguments of left and right and take meaningful, practical steps to
build an education system worthy of our children and our future.”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/14/18tuthill.h28.html
GRANTS
Hewlett-Packard: Innovations in Education Grants
The 2009 HP Innovations in Education grants provide funding for secondary
school districts to launch innovative pilot initiatives that support the
administrators and teachers responsible for student success in math and
science in middle schools and/or high schools. Maximum award: $270,000.
Eligibility: any public or accredited private school district or school
system that serves at least 2000 secondary school (grades 6-12) students.
Deadline: March 30, 2009.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/grants/us/2009-HPIIE-Secondary-US.pdf
Last week, the ICNS Board sent the following letter to Governor Quinn.
Congratulations on your new role as Governor of the State of Illinois. We
are very happy to have you leading our state government and we wish and pray
for your success.
The Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools (ICNS) is committed to communicate and visibly participate in educational dialogue with local, state and federal leaders on behalf of nonpublic schools in the state of Illinois. ICNS includes representatives of twenty plus non-public school organizations and/or denomination. (A brochure listing affiliations is enclosed.) We ask your support and consideration for these schools.
As you are aware, non-public schools educate about 11% of Illinois’ children. Over many decades, they have provided superior education to Illinois’ children at far less cost than public and charter schools. They are almost entirely financed by parents themselves, along with contributions of associated groups, churches, synagogues and mosques. Tax payers have obviously benefited over this time. If we accept the premise that parents are the primary educators of their children, and are best able to determine which school will best educate their children, then they should be able to choose a non-public school without extreme personal sacrifice. Current State support is meager: up to a $500 state income tax credit for fees and tuition, and some assistance for safety, textbooks and transportation.
It is our view that an increased amount of investment in non-public schools will yield substantial results in education of Illinois’ children and in savings of taxpayer dollars. This can be done through expansion of the existing programs, or through other programs utilized in the neighboring states of Wisconsin and Ohio, in effect treating non-public schools as partners in education along with public and charter schools. Such an investment will help insure that non-public schools continue to provide superior education at far less expense to taxpayers and a higher level of education to Illinois’ children.
We again congratulate you, Governor Quinn and ask your support. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Reed Sander, Chair Elect
Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools