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____________ H1N1 (6/12/09) Career Satisfaction in Private Schools (5/20/09) President's 2010 Budget (5/7/09) Flu Advisory (5/5/09) Serve America Act (4/21/09) ARRA Guidance (4/1/09) Obama Offers Hope to Voucher Students (3/12/09) Obama Signs Stimulus Package 2/18/09 Obama Visits School Obama-Biden Report on Inner-City Schools ___________
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June 12, 2009 -- Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius are urging school officials to begin planning now for a possible new wave of the H1N1 flu this fall. “Scientists and public health experts are concerned that the novel H1N1 virus may persist into the fall, potentially as a more severe strain, causing more serious and life-threatening illness,” said the two secretaries in a letter to educators across the country. “We urge you to begin thinking about the next school year and how we can work together to keep our students and local communities safe." The letter goes on to identify a series of specific steps that school officials can take to prepare for “whatever the fall may bring."
May 20, 2009 -- Private school teachers are more satisfied than their public school counterparts with careers, classroom conditions, and school climate, according to a groundbreaking report released today by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.
The report, titled Free to Teach: What America’s Teachers Say About Teaching in Public and Private Schools, draws on data from the Schools and Staffing Survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education.
"These are eye-opening data on how America's public and private school teachers view their work and their schools," said Greg Forster, one of the authors of the study.
"The results here highlight the professional differences felt by teachers from public and private schools," said Christian D'Andrea, the study's co-author. "While public school teachers are faced with more hassles inside and outside the classroom, private school teachers have much more freedom to teach. These private school teachers report having better working environments and stronger networks of staff support."
According to the report’s executive summary…
"Documenting existing teacher working conditions is a first step in helping the nation's educational system - both private and public schools - improve working conditions and the overall profession," said Robert Enlow, President and CEO of the Friedman Foundation.
May 7, 2009 -- President Barack Obama today released details of his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2010. Actual, estimated, and proposed funding levels for key federal programs affecting students in religious and independent schools are provided in the table below.
Federal Education Spending Levels |
|||
FY 2008 Appropriation |
FY 2009 Appropriation |
FY 2010 Proposed |
|
| Career Education (Perkins Act) | $1,161 | $1,161 | $1,161 |
| Community Learning Centers (IV-B) |
$1,081 |
$1,131 | $1,131 |
| Education Technology (II-D) |
$267 | $270 | $100 |
| Education Technology (ARRA)* |
$0 | $650 | $0 |
| English Language Acquisition (III-A) |
$700 | $730 | $730 |
| Even Start (I-B-3) |
$66 |
$66 | $0 |
| Innovative Programs (V-A) |
$0 | $0 | $0 |
| Math & Science Partnerships (II-B) | $179 | $179 | $179 |
| Reading First (I-B-1) | $393 | $0 | $0 |
| Safe & Drug-Free Schools (IV-A)** |
$513 | $515 | $284 |
| Special Education (IDEA Part B-611) | $10,948 | $11,505 | $11,505 |
| Special Education (ARRA)* | $0 | $11,300 | $0 |
| Migrant Education (I-C) |
$380 | $395 | $395 |
| Teacher Quality (II-A) | $2,935 | $2,948 | $2,948 |
| Title I (grants to LEAs) | $13,899 | $14,492 | $12,992 |
| Title I (ARRA)* | $0 | $10,000 | $0 |
*One-time ARRA (stimulus package) funding **S&DFS state grants would be zero-funded in 2010; $284 million is for national programs. |
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May 5, 2009 -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued revised guidance on whether to close a school to prevent the spread of the influenza A (H1N1) virus. The new guidance states: "School closure is not advised for a suspected or confirmed case of novel influenza A (H1N1) and, in general, is not advised unless there is a magnitude of faculty or student absenteeism that interferes with the school's ability to function. Schools that were closed based on previous interim CDC guidance related to this outbreak may reopen."
CDC also has a Web site relating to cases of the H1N1 flu that have been identified in the United States. Additional guidance and responses to frequently asked questions about H1N1 flu are also available from the U.S. Department of Education (see links below).
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President Obama and Senator Kennedy--April 21, 2009 |
April 21, 2009 -- President Obama today signed landmark bipartisan legislation that encourages Americans of all ages to volunteer their time and talent to address national challenges like education, energy, and health care. Known as the Senator Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, the new law greatly expands federal resources devoted to national and community service and includes various education-related initiatives designed not only to assist students in elementary and secondary schools, but also to engage them in service projects to improve their communities. The education programs within the act generally extend to public, religious, and independent schools.
The bill signing took place at the SEED School of Washington, DC, a charter boarding school that, according to its Web site, provides an “academically rigorous, college prep” curriculum.
During the ceremony, the president issued a national call to service. “Put your shoulder up against the wheel,” he said. “And if you do, I promise you--your life will be richer, our country will be stronger, and someday, years from now, you may remember it as the moment when your own story and the American story converged, when they came together, and we met the challenges of our new century.”
After President Obama signed the bill, U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), the bill's original sponsor in the House, and U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said, “This is a historic day for all Americans. By signing this law, President Obama has launched a new era of service and volunteerism that will help our nation emerge stronger from this [economic] crisis."
The Senate approved the measure March 26 by a vote of 79 to 19; the House followed suit March 31 by a vote of 275 to 149.
The national service act, which expands current service programs and creates new ones, will reach out to students, adults, and senior citizens as persons to both serve and be served. A Senate summary describes the act as putting volunteers to work on projects such as “tackling the dropout crisis and strengthening our schools; improving health care for low-income communities; assisting veterans and military families; boosting energy efficiency; and cleaning up parks.”
A central component of the law increases the number of annual volunteer slots in the AmeriCorps program from 75,000 to 250,000. AmeriCorps volunteers work with nonprofit groups to perform all sorts of services, ranging from tutoring disadvantaged children to beautifying neighborhoods. Volunteers receive training as well as an education grant, currently worth up to $4,725 for full-time service, to help pay for college or to pay off student loans. The Serve America Act sets the full-time education grant to equal the maximum Pell Grant award in any given year, thereby taking account of increases in college costs. For the 2009-10 school year, the grant tops out at $5,350.
Elementary and Secondary Schools
The act also updates programs for elementary and secondary students under Learn and Serve America, which links academic instruction with having students meet a community’s pressing challenges. The goals are to improve academics and the community, while instilling in students a sense of civic responsibility. The new Learn and Serve program retains provisions in its predecessor that require participating states and school districts to provide (after consultation with appropriate private school representatives) for the equitable involvement of students in private schools and for the training of their teachers in connection with service-learning projects supported by the program.
Under Learn and Serve, the new law provides grants to establish innovative initiatives that would engage public and private school students in activities such as improving neighborhood spaces, mentoring other students, or even preparing communities to respond to emergencies. A special “Summer of Service” program would invite middle- and high-school students to spend 100 hours meeting environmental, educational, and other needs in the community in exchange for $500 in awards toward college costs. The hope is that the program would help set the stage for a lifelong commitment to service.
Another section of the act sets in place a new Education Corps to help meet the education needs of public and private school students in a community through tutoring, improving school climate, expanding the school day, preparing students for college-level work, and other activities.
The act also establishes a “Volunteer Generation Fund” to help nonprofit organizations (including faith-based organizations) and other eligible entities to increase the number of volunteers to address targeted areas of national need, one of which is to “improve education in schools for economically disadvantaged students.”
New Call to Service
The legislation reflects a theme struck by President Obama during the election campaign, when he issued “a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century.” When the bill passed the Senate, Obama said, “This legislation will help tap the genius of our faith-based and community organizations, and it will find the most innovative ideas for addressing our common challenges and helping those ideas grow….I call on all Americans to stand up and do what they can to serve their communities, shape our history and enrich both their own lives and the lives of others across this country.”
April 1, 2009 -- The U.S. Department of Education today released guidance on the use of funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Below are questions and answers from the guidance that relate to services to students and teachers in religious and independent schools. The guidance documents from which these excerpts are taken are available on USDE’s ARRA Web page.
Title I, Part A Recovery Funds
D-6. Do the Title I, Part A requirements that an LEA provide equitable services to eligible private school children and their teachers and families apply to the Title I, Part A ARRA funds?
Yes. As noted in D-1, all Title I requirements apply to the use of Title I, Part A ARRA funds, including those requiring equitable services for eligible private school children and their teachers and families. See ED’s guidance on this topic [available at http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/psguidance.doc]. Note that ED may not waive the statutory and regulatory requirements relating to providing equitable services to private school children. See section 9401(c)(5) of the ESEA.
D-7. Must an LEA consult with private school officials prior to deciding how to use its Title I, Part A ARRA funds?
Yes. Under section 1120(b) of the ESEA, an LEA must consult with private school officials during the design and development of the LEA’s Title I, Part A programs. That consultation must include meetings of LEA and private school officials and must occur before the LEA makes any decision that affects the opportunities of eligible private school children to participate in Title I, Part A programs.
D-8. If an LEA receives a waiver of one or more of the “set-aside” requirements under D-11, must the LEA include the Title I, Part A funds that are no longer subject to the set-aside in providing equitable services for eligible private school children?
Yes, to the same extent and under the same conditions as regular Title I, Part A funds are used for equitable services for eligible private school children.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B
F-1. How will the ARRA funds be included in the calculation for proportionate share of IDEA funds for services to parentally-placed private school children?
In calculating the proportionate share required under IDEA section 612(a)(10)(A)(i)(I), an LEA must first aggregate the FY 2009 funds received under the Grants to States regular and ARRA awards and apply the formula outlined in 34 CFR §300.133 to the aggregated amount. Similarly, for children aged 3-5, the proportionate share is based on the total FY 2009 funds received under the Preschool Grants regular and ARRA awards.
F-2. If an LEA has completed its consultation required under IDEA section 612(a)(10)(A)(iii), will the LEA have to conduct additional consultation because the IDEA ARRA funds will increase the amount available for equitable services to parentally-placed private school children?
Under section 612(a)(10)(A)(iii), timely and meaningful consultation must occur during the design and development of special education and related services. The consultation process must include discussions of “how the process will operate throughout the school year to ensure that parentally-placed children with disabilities identified through the child find process may meaningfully participate in special education and related services.” An LEA may be able to use the mechanisms developed for the ongoing consultation process to work with representatives of the private schools located in the area served by the LEA and representatives of parents of parentally-placed private school children with disabilities in determining how the proportionate share of IDEA ARRA funds will be expended. In any case, an LEA must ensure that it has engaged in consultation with the private school representatives and representatives of parents of parentally-placed private school children with disabilities about how the additional funds available for services for parentally-placed private school children with disabilities will be used.
F-3. May an LEA spend part of the proportionate share of the IDEA Part B ARRA funds on children with disabilities parentally-placed in private schools in school year 2009-2010 and part in school year 2010-2011?
Yes, subject to certain conditions. Under 34 CFR §300.133(a), each LEA is required to spend a minimum amount of its subgrants under Part B Grants to States and Preschool Grants programs on children with disabilities parentally-placed in private elementary and secondary schools. The ARRA provides a substantial increase in FY 2009 IDEA, Part B funds. As provided in 34 CFR §300.133(a)(3), if an LEA has not expended all of the proportionate share of its Part B subgrant by the end of the fiscal year for which Congress appropriated the funds, the LEA must obligate the remaining funds for special education and related services to children with disabilities parentally-placed in private schools during a carry-over period of one additional year. An LEA must consult with private school representatives and parents of parentally-placed private school students in designing and developing the special education and related services that the LEA will provide for parentally-placed private school children. (34 CFR §300.134) As part of this consultation, the LEA, private school representatives and parents of parentally-placed private school students must consider how the proportionate share of IDEA funds (including the regular and ARRA IDEA Part B funds) should be spent. One option for spending those funds would be to spend some in school year 2009-2010 and some in school year 2010-2011.
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
III-D-15. Is an LEA required to provide equitable services for private school students and teachers with Education Stabilization funds?
No. There is no requirement in the ARRA that an LEA provide equitable services for private school students with Education Stabilization funds, even if those funds are used for an activity authorized by a program that otherwise requires equitable services. However, an LEA may provide services for private school students and teachers to the extent that the activities are authorized by the ESEA, the IDEA, the AEFLA, or the Perkins Act.
IV-6. May a State use Government Services funds to construct, modernize, renovate, or repair a private school facility?
Yes. A State may use these funds to construct, modernize, renovate, or repair a private school facility. However, the limitations referenced in Question IV-3 apply to such uses of funds. For example, a State is prohibited from using Government Services funds for construction, modernization, renovation, or repair of facilities (a) that are used for sectarian instruction or religious worship; or (b) in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission. (See generally Section 14004(c) of the ARRA.)
III-D-2. What are the statutory prohibitions on an LEA’s use of Education Stabilization funds?
Section 14003 of the ARRA prohibits an LEA from using Education Stabilization funds for –
In addition, no Stabilization funds (either Education Stabilization funds or Government Services funds) may be used to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools, unless the funds are used to provide special education and related services to children with disabilities as authorized by the IDEA (Section 14011 of the ARRA).
There are also other prohibitions in section 1604 of the ARRA – for example, prohibitions against using funds for an aquarium, zoo, golf course, or swimming pool – that apply to the use of Stabilization funds by any entity.
March 12, 2009 -- At a press briefing yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama will work with Congress to ensure that students in the District of Columbia who are benefiting from a federally funded voucher initiative will not have their education disrupted.
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program currently allows over 1,700 children from low-income families to attend a religious or independent school in Washington.
The president signed an appropriations bill this week that includes a provision to stop the program after the 2009-10 school year unless it is formally endorsed by Congress and the D.C. Council -- conditions that could prove to be a long and steep uphill climb.
At the press briefing, Mr Gibbs said, "It wouldn't make sense to disrupt the education of those that are in that system, and I think we'll work with Congress to ensure that a disruption like that doesn't take place." When asked if the president's budget would include a restoration of the program, Gibbs said, "I'd certainly look through the budget stuff, but I think, whether it's in the budget or in the appropriations process, that we look for a way to work with -- work with Congress to ensure, as I said, that disruption doesn't take place."
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday struck a blow to the voucher program by voting (58 to 39) to defeat an amendment to an omnibus appropriations bill (S. Amdt. 615) that would have saved it. (See how your senator voted on the amendment here.) Although the appropriations bill provides funds for scholarships to continue through 2009-10, it specifically requires Congress to reauthorize the program, and the D.C. Council to approve it, in order for funding to continue beyond that point. The amendment by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) that the Senate defeated would have removed those stringent conditions. (Read Sen. Ensign's remarks on the floor of the Senate last week in support of the amendment here.)
An explanatory statement accompanying the appropriations bill directs the chancellor of public schools in D.C. to “promptly take steps to minimize potential disruption and ensure smooth transition for any students seeking enrollment in the public school system as a result of any changes made to the private scholarship program affecting periods after school year 2009-2010.”
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, referring to the D.C. initiative, said, "I don't think it makes sense to take kids out of a school where they're happy and safe and satisfied and learning. I think those kids need to stay in their school." The AP story said those remarks put “the Obama administration at odds with Democrats trying to end the program.”
Signaling the challenges a reauthorization bill was facing in the Senate, Melissa Wagoner, a spokesperson for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, recently told CQ Today, “Senator Kennedy strongly opposed the creation of the program, which takes funds from very needy public schools to send students to unaccountable private schools.” (Sidwell Friends School is one of the private schools that participate in the program.)
In a strongly worded editorial February 25, the Washington Post denounced the bill language as a “back-door attempt” to destroy the voucher initiative and “an ill-disguised bid to kill a program that gives some poor parents a choice regarding where their children go to school.” The editorial called on Congressional leaders to do the right thing. “If not, city leaders, including D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), need to let President Obama know that some 1,800 poor children are likely to have their educations disrupted.”
To help get that message to the White House, school choice advocates released a “video letter” from scholarship recipients to President Obama asking him to save the program. The video may be viewed here.
February 18, 2009 -- President Barack Obama yesterday signed into law a massive package to help jump-start the sagging economy through a combination of tax cuts and government spending. The nearly $800 billion legislation, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), involves unprecedented amounts of federal funds for education programs, some of which will affect students in religious and independent schools. (CAPE's analysis of how ARRA relates to private schools is available here.)
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
ARRA establishes a $53.6 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), designed primarily to help states offset their own cuts in aid to education and other services. Despite a strong advocacy effort by the private school community, the act does not include an explicit requirement that SFSF money serve children in private schools in an equitable way. But neither does the act exclude private school students from being served under SFSF. Further, it may be that current provisions in the programs for which SFSF funds must be used (e.g., the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) cover equitability.
School Modernization
The school modernization program contained in the version of the stimulus package originally passed by the House has been rolled into the SFSF component of ARRA by adding “modernization, renovation, or repair of public school facilities” as an allowable use of SFSF funds by school districts. The explicit “public school” reference excludes the use of these funds for upgrading religious and independent elementary and secondary schools. A separate section under SFSF relating to the use of funds by institutions of higher education allows for the modernization, renovation, or repair of public or private colleges and universities, except for facilities “used for sectarian instruction or religious worship” or “in which a substantial portion of the functions of the facilities are subsumed in a religious mission.”
ESEA, IDEA
ARRA includes $13 billion for Title I grants under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to help disadvantaged students. Of that amount, $10 billion is available for services to students in public and private schools, and $3 billion is targeted for grants to help public schools that have been identified for school improvement.
The act also provides $650 million under Title II-D of ESEA (EdTech) to help public and private schools enhance instruction through technology.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides services to children with special needs in public and private schools, receives an additional $12.2 billion under ARRA, including $11.7 billion for Part B, which includes equitable services to students placed by their parents in private schools, and $500 million for Part C, which serves infants and toddlers with disabilities.
Early Childhood
Early childhood programs also get a boost in ARRA, which provides $1.1 billion for Early Head Start and $1 billion for Head Start, two programs to promote the healthy development of children from low-income families before they attend school. A number of private nonprofit organizations operate both programs. Another $2 billion will go to the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, which helps low-income parents in the workforce cover daycare or after-school program costs at the child-care provider of their choice.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act |
|
Amount (in billions) |
|
| Title I-A, ESEA |
$10.0 |
| Title II-D, ESEA (EdTech) | $0.65 |
| IDEA, Part B |
$11.7 |
| State Fiscal Stabilization Fund | $53.6 |
| Early Head Start | $1.1 |
| Head Start | $1.0 |
| Child Care and Development Block Grants | $2.0 |
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AP Images: Pablo Martinez Monsivais |
January 2, 2009 -- Students at St. Columbanus Catholic School on Chicago’s South Side were honored by a startlingly unexpected visit the day before Thanksgiving—a visit they will likely never forget. President-elect Barack Obama and his family stopped by the school after handing out food to needy families in an adjacent church parking lot.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Mr. Obama was distributing Thanksgiving meals and noticed children from the parish school furiously waving from windows. He said to his wife, Michelle, “We’ve got to go in there and say ‘hi’ to those kids.” School officials quickly gathered the enthusiastic students into the auditorium for what turned out to be a five-minute visit replete with handshakes, hugs, and sage advice.
When the president-elect and his family entered the room, students burst spontaneously into exuberant cheers and applause. Obama wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving and proceeded to poll the admiring assembly on what foods would be included in their next day’s meal. Sweet-potato pie seemed to get the most vociferous votes.
Offering what sounded more like paternal than presidential advice, Obama urged the pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade students to read, do their math, listen to their teachers, be good to their parents, and treat each other with respect. “There is nothing you can’t do,” he told them. “You guys might even end up being president someday.”
Obama seemed to relish the unscheduled and unscripted event as much as the children. Fully at ease and enjoying the exchange, he entertained some questions. One sixth-grader asked what it’s like to be president. “I’m not president yet. I’ve only been elected president. I’m gonna be sworn in as president on January 20th,” said Obama, as the children let out an ear-shattering yell.
Another student asked what it is like to be followed around by so many people. Although Obama expressed appreciation for the Secret Service and the press corps that form his constant entourage, he said he doesn’t get as much alone time as he used to. “I gotta admit that sometimes it’s kinda strange where you kinda just want to go to Walgreens and pick something up or you just want to go take a walk or go out and ride your bike or something, and you always have somebody with you,” Obama said. “So you don’t have a lot of privacy, and that’s one of the things you have to sacrifice.”
Before leaving, Obama again wished everyone a great Thanksgiving and told the children to extend his wish to their moms, dads, and families. “I just want you to know that what I’m thankful for is my family and my friends and my community,” he said. “That’s the most important thing, so I hope you guys are thankful for that, too.”
After some final handshakes and prying free from a semicircle of children clinging to his coat, Obama left to a chorus of chants: “O-ba-ma…O-ba-ma…O-ba-ma.”
St. Columbanus School’s mission is to “teach, guide, and direct students in Christian values and to prepare them to become productive members of society.” The school, which enrolls approximately 300 students, seeks to form persons who are “morally strong” and “deeply committed to the community, their country, and the world.” Most students are African American; over 60 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and about 70 percent come from single-parent families.
Mrs. Sandra E. Wilson, the school’s principal, told CAPE her students were “surprised and thrilled” by Obama’s visit. She shared an especially touching thank-you note that Kristian Walker, a second grader, had written to the president-elect: “I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to visit us at our school. Just three days before I met you, I had asked my mom if she thought that I would get a chance to meet you, now that you are president-elect, and she said that it was possible. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have met you and to be a part of history. Remember me, because I plan to make history too.” Wilson said Kristian’s note reflects how much the visit inspired all the school’s students.
See a homemade video of the visit below.
December 1, 2008 -- President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have long and close connections with religious and independent schools. Both men graduated from private schools, sent their children to them, and have sustained strong ties to them.
Obama’s first school was a Catholic school, the St. Francis Assisi Foundation School in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he attended first and second grade. (His family had moved from Hawaii to Jakarta when he was six.) In third and fourth grade, he attended an Indonesian public school, but after returning to Hawaii, he enrolled as a fifth grader at Punahou School, a K-12 college prep school in Honolulu and the largest independent school in the United States. He graduated from Punahou in 1979, having played on the varsity basketball team that won the state championship that year. Other co-curricular activities included the boys chorus in ninth grade and the concert choir in tenth.
Fifth-Grade Memories
In his autobiography, Dreams from My Father, Obama recalls that Miss Mabel Hefty, his fifth-grade teacher at Punahou, had invited his father, a Kenyan, to speak to the class. On the day of the visit, Miss Hefty welcomed the elder Obama eagerly and announced to the class, “We have a special treat for you today. Barry Obama’s father is here, and he’s come all the way from Kenya, in Africa, to tell us about his country.” Obama wrote that his father spoke about “the wild animals that still roamed the plains, the tribes that still required a young boy to kill a lion to prove his manhood”—matters that must have captivated his pre-teen classmates. But his father also described the political struggles in the country and how Kenyans longed to be free. “When he was finished,” wrote Obama, “Miss Hefty was absolutely beaming with pride. All my classmates applauded heartily.” And one fellow student offered what may be the ultimate fifth-grade compliment: “Your dad is pretty cool.”
In an article for the Punahou Bulletin in the fall of 1999, Obama, who had attended the school on scholarship, wrote, “I believe that the carefree childhood I experienced in Hawaii, and the wonderful education I received at Punahou, should not be left to the luck of the draw, but should rather be every child’s birthright.”
Extraordinarily Grateful
In December 2004, then U.S. Senator-elect Obama returned to Punahou to speak to students and faculty. The Punahou Bulletin reported that Obama recalled the school’s effect on his life this way: “There was something about this school that embraced me, gave me support and encouragement, and allowed me to grow and prosper. I am extraordinarily grateful.”
The day Obama was elected president, Punahou School President James K. Scott said, “This is a historic moment for America and the world, and for Hawaii.…At Punahou School, our calling is to foster each student’s potential to reach his or her promise and effect meaningful change in society. President-elect Obama is an inspirational embodiment of that vision.”
Obama’s education in private schools continued well beyond Punahou. He attended Occidental College, a small liberal arts college in Los Angeles, for two years and then went on to earn a B.A. in political science in 1983 from Columbia University and a J.D., magna cum laude, in 1991 from Harvard Law School, where he was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
Respect for Catholic Schools
Another Obama encounter with private schools came in the mid-1980s when he worked as a community organizer for the Developing Communities Project (DCP) in Chicago. From 1985-88, Obama worked out of an office in the rectory of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in the city’s south side. In a booklet “The Catholic Case for Obama,” Dr. Patrick Whelan reports that about 200 mostly non-Catholic children attended the Catholic school connected with the parish. “Barack did not teach at the school, but he had an opportunity to get acquainted with many of the parents.” One of the priests involved with another nearby Catholic school told Whelan, “Senator Obama certainly had a respect for the Catholic school system, particularly when it was the only alternative for education of the poor. He recognized that Catholic schools became a vehicle by which children could be prepared to compete in life.” Whelan also reports that during the 2004 Senate race, “Barack’s campaign filmed one of its television commercials in a Catholic school, championing the education that the children were receiving there.”
Laboratory Schools
The president-elect’s connection with private schools continues to this day. His two daughters, Malia Ann (10) and Natasha (7), have been attending the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, established in 1896 by John Dewey. According to the mission statement, the Lab Schools “provide an experience-centered, rigorous and well-rounded education for a diverse community” and “strive to exemplify educational practice at its best.” David W. Magill, the schools’ director, writes, “We are more than just test scores and college admissions statistics…. Our academic program is rigorous, but we are as interested in the development of character as we are in scholastic achievement….In short, we are among the leading independent schools in the nation and pride ourselves on creating conditions for a purposeful search for knowledge and truth.” Michelle Obama, who describes herself as “mother-in-chief,” has served on the board of directors for the Lab Schools.
Sidwell Friends
When they move to Washington, the Obama girls will attend Sidwell Friends School, a PK-12 Quaker day school located in Washington and Bethesda, MD. Sidwell’s statement of philosophy describes the school community as “inspired by the values of the Religious Society of Friends and guided by the Quaker belief in ‘That of God’ in each person.” The school, founded in 1883, offers students “a rich and rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum designed to stimulate creative inquiry, intellectual achievement and independent thinking.” Capturing the Quaker respect for the efficacy of quiet, the statement acknowledges that the community draws “strength from silence—and from the power of individual and collective reflection.” It continues, “We cultivate in all members of our community high personal expectations and integrity, respect for consensus, and an understanding of how diversity enriches us, why stewardship of the natural world matters, and why service to others enhances life.”
The school’s Web site explains that the belief that there is “That of God” in each person “shapes everything we do at Sidwell Friends School. It inspires us to show kindness and respect toward one another. It motivates us to recognize and nurture each person’s unique gifts. It teaches us to apply our talents in service to others and to work courageously for peace.”
Chelsea Clinton attended Sidwell in the 1990s, and three grandchildren of Joe Biden are current students.
Michelle Obama spent a few days in November scouting out private schools in Washington. In an interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, she talked about the school choice process, saying, “What we have asked people to understand is that the decision that we make will be based on the best interest of the girls.” Once the selection was announced, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Obama, echoed a similar sentiment: “In the end, the Obamas selected the school that was the best fit for what their daughters need right now.”
Vice President-elect
Like Obama, Vice President-elect Joseph Biden also has a lifelong acquaintance with private schools. St. Paul’s Catholic School in Scranton, PA, Holy Rosary in Claymont, DE, and St. Helena in Wilmington, DE, all helped shape the vice president during his elementary school years. He writes about the influence of nuns on his life in his autobiography, Promises to Keep: “Wherever there were nuns, there was home. I’m as much a cultural Catholic as I am a theological Catholic. My idea of self, of family, of community, of the wider world comes straight from my religion….The nuns are one of the reasons I’m still a practicing Catholic.”
When it came time for high school, Biden “had [his] heart set on Archmere,” as in Archmere Academy, a Catholic, independent, college preparatory school in Claymont, DE. He attended the school through the help of a work-study program for, as he put it, “students whose families couldn’t swing the tuition,” which was $300 a year at the time. According to its mission statement, Archmere “focuses on the education of the whole student” through “dedication to academic excellence, social development, community service, and faith reflection.” The school “encourages and supports the unique qualities and differences of students in achieving the maximum level of their abilities.”
Biden writes, “I began to grow into myself at Archmere….In almost any group I was the leader.” In senior year he was class president and top scorer on an undefeated football team. But, he adds, “If I was going to be a leader, I meant to lead the right way. I made sure to look out for the kid who was being made fun of. I knew how that felt.” Biden had a stutter as a child, and he describes his “proudest accomplishments at Archmere” as delivering a five-minute public speaking requirement during morning assembly in sophomore year and a welcome to graduates and parents at his commencement ceremony in senior year. “[I]t was the final confirmation that the stutter was not going to hold me back.”
Biden’s connections with Archmere have continued. His adult children—Beau, Hunter, and Ashley—all graduated from the school, and he served as honorary co-chair of the Campaign for Archmere, launched in 2003 to raise funds for capital improvements.
Biden, the country’s first Catholic vice president, connects his elementary and secondary education to the development of his sense of public service. Talking about the election of John F. Kennedy, he writes in his autobiography: “The thing that struck me most about his inaugural address in January 1961 was not the newness of his ideas but how much those ideas rhymed with the lessons I’d learned at Saint Paul’s and Holy Rosary and Saint Helena’s and Archmere—and especially at my home. We have to do good works on earth, Kennedy reminded us, because it is our duty:…‘[H]ere on earth, God’s work must truly be our own.’”
October 3, 2008 -- The White House today issued a report describing the challenges faced by inner-city faith-based schools and offering solutions that engage philanthropy, higher education, new support systems, and public policy. Preserving a Critical National Asset: America’s Disadvantaged Students and the Crisis in Faith-Based Urban Schools examines the rich tradition of religious schools in America and the causes and consequences of their recent decline in inner-cities. The report not only summarizes key points advanced at the White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools held last April, but also provides full transcripts of presentations delivered at the summit. Click here to download the report.
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July 2, 2009 -- Indiana has become the latest member of a growing list of states providing tax credits for contributions to nonprofit organizations that award scholarships to help children attend religious and independent schools. The state legislature passed, and Gov. Mitch Daniels signed, a $2.5 million tax credit program Tuesday night as part of an omnibus state budget bill.