From Capitol Hill
Mr. President-Elect: Please continue the program that helps Malia and Sasha’s schoolmates!
As we politicos have watched the president-elect and his family go through the process of acquiring government housing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, here in D.C. the local media (both right and left) have responded with defenses of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program that allows 1,900 poor students from failing D.C. public schools to attend the private school of their family’s choice. The Washington Post wrote such an editorial on November 15, 2008, and titled it “Will Barack Obama deprive D.C. children of the opportunity his children have?" In it, the editors wrote the following: "During the just-concluded campaign, Mr. Obama spoke dismissively of the federally funded voucher program that gives poor D.C. families access to the kind of educational opportunities his family is fortunate to have."
It’s fun to watch liberal Democrats come to Washington and choose to send their children to private schools. Their presidential campaigns may be funded by the public-school teachers’ unions, but their families still exercise school choice for the good of their households. As of this writing, the Obamas will be sending their girls to Sidwell Friends on Wisconsin Avenue (across the street from Fannie Mae’s headquarters), where Chelsea Clinton attended school before spending her college years at Stanford. Thankfully, the Sidwell Friends administration has chosen to accept Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) students (at a $20,000-per-year loss per OSP student). We would hope that the president-elect would continue this help to Malia and Sasha’s Sidwell schoolmates.
Allow me to digress...The Headmaster of Sidwell and I talked at a dinner earlier this year when he said that some school heads complain about having hovering "helicopter parents." He then laughed and exclaimed, "Mine are Blackhawk military helicopters!" Well, Headmaster Bruce B. Stewart, you have them again—plus the Secret Service!
The Washington Times wrote in "Editorial: School choice for some" on November 14, 2008, that the Obamas have their daughters in a Chicago private school and they are planning to transfer them to a private school in DC. The editorial implies that poor children should have the same rights as people of means. We couldn’t agree more.
Here are two more editorials worth your time: "Change Our Public Schools Need" by Professor Terry M. Moe and "The Sidwell Choice," both from the Wall Street Journal, November 24, 2008.
ACSI works with many pro-family groups that stand foursquare for life and religious liberty on Capitol Hill. Here are some of the successes of the 110th Congress that have been helpful to us:
- D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and D.C. Marriage Development Accounts. These remained intact. ACSI urban schools in Washington, DC, participate in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.
- Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act. This act was signed into law. It benefits families with prenatal diagnoses of such conditions as Down syndrome. Sadly, about 90% of prenatal children diagnosed with Down syndrome are currently aborted.
- Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. This act was signed into law after abortion-related language of concern was removed. Abstinence and fidelity programs were included as important components of prevention, the pledge to oppose sex trafficking was maintained, and the conscience-protection language was strengthened to prevent discrimination against faith-based organizations.
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. Before the act became law, the language was modified with the intent of preventing the genetic information of prenatal children and children in the process of being adopted from being used by a family’s employer or health insurance company to discriminate against that family.
- Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The act was ruled constitutional by a 5–4 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in 2003.
- Second Chance Act of 2007. This act was signed into law. It helps provide inmates with the tools they need to successfully reintegrate into the community upon their release.
- Standardized Chapel Library Project. The Bureau of Prisons rectified its previous mistake of making restrictions on religious texts in prisons.
- The Title V abstinence-education programs, the true abstinence-education definition (the A-H definition from Section 510 (b)(2)(A-H) of the Social Security Act [Public Law 104-193]), and the community-based abstinence-education funding levels. These all stayed intact.
- Religious hiring rights. They were maintained for faith-based organizations involved with government social programs; they were not, however, included in the reauthorization of Head Start.
- The fiscal year ’08 omnibus bill. This includes language of the Brownback-Byrd bill (S 2417) to return America’s national motto "In God We Trust" to its prominent position on the face of the $1 coin instead of on the edge of it. —Senate Values Action Team, 11/08
Senate minority conference vice chairman for the 111th Congress is Biola University business graduate Senator John Thune (R-SD). Who says you can’t go anywhere with a Christian education!
News You Can Use
State-by-state, Americans keep showing that they are in favor of one-man-one-woman marriages. There are now 30 states that have laws or constitutional amendments that reinforce this definition of marriage. In November, all three related ballot initiatives won: California voted 52% to 48% in favor of such wording in its constitution. (African Americans there voted 70% in favor.) In Florida, where the law needed 60% to pass, the citizens voted 62% in favor. And in Arizona, citizens voted 56% in favor.
403(b) retirement plan changes. As of January 1, 2009, it’s going to be more complicated to administer 403(b) retirement plans, which are typically available to schools and nonprofits. The IRS, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Labor have issued new guidelines that will require a greater level of employer involvement in the documentation and operation of the plans. Don’t wait until January 2 to become compliant. Contact your broker or financial institution managing your 403(b) retirement plan now.
Significant changes in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Schools need to be aware that the new amendments to the ADA will go into effect on January 1, 2009. These changes greatly expand the definitions of disabilities and the ways employers must treat those who are disabled. The next Legal/Legislative Update will cover these changes. However, you can also read an article on the changes by selecting Fisher & Phillips, Attorneys at Law, Solutions at Work.
Significant changes in the Family Medical Leave Act (FLMA). The new changes to the FMLA will take place on January 16, 2009. Schools need to be aware of these changes and need to update their handbooks and policies regarding FMLA. For more details, read an article by Fisher & Phillips LLP.
The Santa Barbara fires caused Westmont College, an ACSI member school, to lose "several buildings that house[d] the physics and psychology departments, a dormitory and at least one faculty home…." Beth Lazor, 18, said she was in her dorm when the alarm went off. She said she only had time to grab her laptop, phone, a teddy bear and a debit card before fleeing the burning building. Please remember our Christian family at Westmont in prayer. —LiveBlog, a website of ChristianityToday, 11/13/08