Best of Washington's Private Schools

  Ron Long, Bill Hesse, Al Greene, Brenda Bauer, Marcia Alexander, Sr. Joyce Cox
                           (Not pictured:  Pamela Allen, Mike Downs)

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The "Washington Learns" study from last year resulted in a legislative mandate to not only rewrite the Basic Education Act, but also fundamentally change the way education is funded in Washington. This was a very ambitious task involving many stakeholders. An Omnibus Bill was introduced with excellent innovative ideas contained within both House and Senate versions. Unfortunately, the current economic climate, union opposition, and a new Superintendent of Public Instruction have stalled the process. The implications for private schools may center on teacher certification requirements, but all other private school language remains intact.

• We legislatively have retained our WFIS appointee to the Early Learning Advisory Council when the Governor downsized the current council from 22 to 12. We are currently working with the Department of Early Learning and the Department of Social and Health Services to coordinate requirements for licensing pre-schools and daycares. Montessori schools particularly are having difficulty with DSHS consistency in site inspections.  We are also working with OSPI to set up a subcommittee of the Private Schools Advisory Committee to focus exclusively on Early Learning issues.  WFIS has been asked to help develop new language to streamline before and after school site requirements, so they line up with the school-day requirements.

• The legislative mandate to re-write K-12 state math and science standards has been completed. They are posted on the OSPI website. WFIS worked with OSPI and the SBE through the Private School Advisory Committee (PSAC) to make recommendations.  While private schools do not have to follow these new standards, they may be beneficial as resources for curriculum inclusion.

• Last year, OSPI issued an opinion through the Attorney General's Office that no materials, equipment or personnel can serve our special education students in private SECTARIAN schools. We are working with the Institute for Justice to bring about a change in this unfair interpretation of the law. In November 2008, IJ filed a lawsuit on behalf of three families in Lynden, WA citing religious discrimination. Early in January, OSPI issued an administrative bulletin asking for input from all special education stakeholders in rewriting the provision. Suggestions were due February 6, 2009. IJ has placed a hold on the lawsuit until the rewrite is complete this spring before the case is continued.

• The State Department of Health has completed the revisions to the K-12 School Health and Safety Rules. WFIS worked with the DOH and public schools to develop clear language and cost analyses for implementation of the requirements. This has been a big issue with both public and private schools. The requirements for clean air, water quality, pesticide use, playground safety and remodel costs could be difficult for all Washington schools to afford. The House Ways and Means committee put forth a bill that would phase in the funding over time for public schools. Of course, private education would not receive any state funds, but the phase-in would be helpful to our schools. WFIS testified in support of the bill. It has now moved to the rules committee.  It now appears that the legislature will pass the bill to gradually add funding as the economy improves.  This will help private schools phase in the new requirements over time.

• The State Board of Education has undertaken the revision of high school graduation requirements. The effort is called "Core 24", which infuses more academic rigor into the curriculum along with clear vocational strands, adding more math and science requirements as pre-requisites to graduation. Our private schools' SBE representative, Jack Schuster, is chairing this committee.  These will not be implemented until full funding is achieved through the legislature.  Most private high schools already have enough academic requirements to meet the new rules.

• Once again this year, we met with friendly legislators to put forward a business tax credit bill. With the deteriorating economic forecast, however, we decided to pull the bill this session.

• We continue to work to develop relationships with the new staff at OSPI, DEL and the SBE to educate them regarding private education. There have been many changes in all of these offices this past year; the most notable is Mr. Randy Dorn, the new Superintendent of Public Instruction who ran on eliminating the WASL (state graduation test). Stay tuned! He has met with our Executive Board and seems to understand that it is important to have a good working relationship with the private school community.

2. WFIS Days at the Western Washington Fair (sixth largest fair in the country) - Each school has a booth to showcase their program and we have scheduled entertainment from a variety of private schools from around the state. It continues to be great exposure for our schools.

3. Winter Dinner and Best of Washington Awards. This is the beginning of our Fortieth Anniversary Year celebration. Judy Jennings spoke on the "Power of the Story" to highlight the founding and continuing influence of WFIS in our state. Pamela Allen from ONPE was our Public Official of the Year. Our Columbia Award went to the 92 year old, Dr. Al Greene,
who signed our Articles of Incorporation. Other awards spoke to our diversity. The schools represented were The Seattle Hebrew Academy, the Seattle Girls School,  Gonzaga Prep from Spokane, Bellevue Christian Schools, Northshore Christian Academy and Sister Joyce Cox, retired Superintendent from the Seattle Archdiocese.

This fall, I traveled around the state and met with our member schools' administrative teams to determine their concerns and needs from WFIS as well as educating them about current legislative and educational issues.  In the midst of difficult economic times, we continue to work hard on behalf of our members schools.  As we stand together, we are able to be strong, focused and effective voices for the children in our schools.

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.  (More ...) 

Joe McTighe

Council For American Private Education

Report to the Governor and Legislature:  An excellent summary of progress that has been made since the founding of the Department of Early Learning can be found in this report released December 15th 2008.  http://www.del.wa.gov/government/legislature/reports.aspx

This Week in Olympia...TWIO
You can now access online a weekly summary on the key hearings and bills that are being monitored by the Department of Early Learning.  This new TWIO report is available at the DEL Website:
http://www.del.wa.gov/government/legislature/week.aspx

State Budget
The $8 billion state budget shortfall has impacted every state agency including DEL.  The Governor has proposed a budget for DEL that has been trimmed by 6.4%, which is an $8.5 million dollar decrease.

Child Care and Development Fund Workgroup:  This workgroup is developing a budget plan for the federal block grant that is received annually by Washington State to improve access, quality, support parent options and subsidies for work, training or school.  http://www.del.wa.gov/publications/elac-qris/docs/CCDFplanningminutes112408.pdf 
  
Early Learning Plan Workgroup: This workgroup is seeking broad stakeholder involvement to create an early learning plan for our state that builds on existing work and frameworks.  http://www.del.wa.gov/publications/elac-qris/docs/EarlyLearningPlanWorkgroupSummaryForELAC-Dec2008.pdf
 
Paula Smith, Head of School

Private Schools Representative

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From the Office of Non-Public Education

NCES Releases Private School Universe Report
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) has released the report, Characteristics of Private Schools in the United States: Results from the 2007-2008 Private School Universe Survey.  The report provides information about private schools that have one or more grades of students from kindergarten through twelfth grade.  It presents data on schools, students, and teachers by characteristics, including:  school size, school level, religious orientation, association membership, geographic region, community type, and program emphasis.  The report also includes data on students by race/ethnicity, gender, and grade level.

Notable Findings

• In the fall of 2007, there were an estimated 33,740 private elementary and secondary schools in the U.S., an increase of 4,744 from 28,996 schools in the fall of 2005.
• Of the three primary types of private schools - Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian - other religious schools were the most numerous, followed by nonsectarian schools, and Catholic schools, representing 46, 32, and 22 percent, respectively, of all private schools.
• Approximately 65 percent of private schools in 2007-08 offered elementary grads only, and 9 percent offered secondary grades only; the remaining 27 percent offered a combination of both.

• An estimated total of 5,072,451 students were enrolled in the nation's private schools in the fall of 2007, an increase of 14,931 from 5,057,520 students in the fall of 2005.
• Of the 306,605 private high school graduates in the 2006-07 school year, 65 percent attended 4-year colleges by the fall of 2007.
• Forty-three percent of private school students were enrolled in Catholic schools, 38 percent were enrolled in other religious schools, and 19 percent were enrolled in nonsectarian schools.

• The nation's private school students were taught by 456,266 full-time-equivalent (FTE) teachers in the fall of 2007, an increase of 20,781 from the estimated 435,485 FTE teachers employed in private schools in the fall of 2005.

For additional information and to download the PDF version of the report, visit the NCES Web site at:  http://nces.ed.gov. 

• Data on parental involvement in school activities by child, parent, and school characteristic in Tables 23-24, Chapter 1.
• Data on homeschooling in Tables 38-39, Chapter 2, Part 1.
• Data on private elementary and secondary enrollment, teachers, number of schools, average tuition, student to FTE ratio, high school graduates in Tables 58-62, Chapter 2, Part 1.
• Enrollment in educational institutions by level and control of institutions:  Selected years, 1869-70 through fall 2017 in Table 3, Chapter 1.
• Data on finances in Tables 25-31, Chapter 1.  (Note: Table 26 is most relevant to private K-12.)
• Postsecondary enrollment (college) data in Tables 188-189, Chapter 3, Part 1.

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  511 CHAMBERS

 STEILACOOM, WA  98388

Since 1988, the Space Technology Hall of Fame, in cooperation with NASA, has honored those individuals and organizations who transform technology originally developed for space exploration into products and services that help improve the quality of life on Earth. Dozens of technologies and hundreds of individuals and organizations have since been recognized.

The 2009 space technologies and innovators will be inducted and honored at a private reception and dinner, respectively, during the 25th National Space Symposium. Join us on Thursday, April 2, at 7:15 p.m. for the Space Technology Hall of Fame Dinner - the capstone event of the 25th National Space Symposium - with featured speaker Mr. Bill Nye the Science Guy®.