From Capital Hill
Two Democrats joined Independent Senator Joe Lieberman (CT) and 36 Republicans in an effort to preserve the popular DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which provides vouchers to 1,700 K–12 students. The Ensign amendment lost 39–58 (Amendment 615 [DC Choice] to HR 1105, the “2009 Omnibus Budget”). “The $7,500 vouchers are far less expensive than the cost of educating one student in the city’s troubled school system. Students use the money to pay tuition at private [including religious] schools in the area. There is a long waiting list to join the program, which is designed not only to help the students who are able to escape the public schools, but also to put competitive pressure on D.C. to improve its schools.” Although the voucher program is strongly supported by its students and parents, most Democratic members of Congress, President Obama, and the teacher unions (NEA’s letter of opposition) oppose it. —“Mark Warner Supports D.C. School Vouchers,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3/18/09
Democratic friends of the DCOS Program, Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Robert Byrd (D-WV), voted for GOP Senator John Ensign’s (NV) amendment to continue the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program past the 2009/2010 school year. DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan came out in support of the failed amendment. Soon, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will hold hearings on the renewal of the DCOSP (taken from news release by Senator Lieberman). The Washington Post, the Washington Times, and the Wall Street Journal have had several editorials and op-eds in favor of the DC voucher program.
Government-privileged public schools. “Sure we want to know about academic outcomes, but the heart of the issue is whether the state should privilege a particular view of reality and the good. (I doubt that anyone believes that education is a value-neutral enterprise.) It does exactly that under the current system of finance. Just as government privileged certain churches in the past, it does so with public schools today.… [S]uch an arrangement violates the spirit of a free society.” —e-mail from American evangelical schools scholar James Carper, a professor at the University of South Carolina, regarding a supportive Washington Post editorial, 3/16/09
The administration’s new budget could hurt charities. Charitable deductions for single taxpayers making $200,000 or more and married couples making $250,000 or more could be limited. This limitation on tax deductions may deal a serious blow to U.S. charities that are being increasingly relied on to help people in this time of recession. According to IRS data, Americans gave $147.7 billion in charitable donations in 2006; $81.2 billion, or 46.4%, of charitable deductions claimed in 2006 were by people making more than $200K; $59.2 billion, or 33.8%, of charitable deductions claimed in 2006 were by people making more than $500K.
—From Congressman Bill Shuster's Blog
Administration allies of the policy are defending it by saying that it will result in merely a 1.3% drop in donations. But even 1.3% is an astonishing $2.27 billion less for U.S. charities. According to IRS 990 forms, that sum is larger than the entire 2007 operating budgets of the Boy Scouts of America ($155 million), St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital ($463 million), and the American Cancer Society ($966 million). —From Congressman Bill Shuster's Blog
The Kennedy-Hatch “Serve America Act” (S 277), which would increase the number of openings for paid national and community service and improve the quality of those positions, was strongly commended by the president in his February 24 speech before a joint session of Congress. S 277 is moving quickly through both houses. Peter Levine expressed his support in “The Case for ‘Service’ ” in Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly. In a blog, Levine writes, “I see service as experiential education that builds job skills, increases young adults’ odds of attending college, and teaches them civic skills so that they can address problems in their communities. The ‘service’ dimension is important educationally because many … young people learn better when they have opportunities to contribute.” Many young people who attend college receive subsidies from the government. But those who do not continue formal education beyond high school subsidize their college-attending peers with their tax dollars and find that nearly all government-funded educational programs have age limits of 18 or 21. S 277 helps right this imbalance by offering opportunities to young adults who may not be on a college track. The Serve America Act has bipartisan support and may even end up supplying helpers for urban Christian schools.
Universal Pre-K on fast track. On the basis of the U.S. House hearings the week of March 16, it seems that federally funded universal pre-kindergarten legislation will move rapidly through the U.S. House. ACSI and other private school groups are attempting to keep parental choice in early education—including religious options. All the states currently provide parental choice through the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which dates back to 1990.
News You Can Use
Consumers are backing off from making purchases from nonprofit organizations. A January 2009 national survey by The NonProfit Times found that only 23% of respondents made a purchase from a charitable organization, a 43% plunge from the same time in 2006. Purchases at special events decreased more than 63% from those reported in 2006. “The conventional wisdom that those with greater household incomes would be more prone to make charitable purchases did not hold up in the 2009 survey.” Household incomes at $100,000 or higher had a 24% purchase rate, and households at $75,000 to $100,000 were at 33%, followed closely by those having household incomes of $35,000 to $50,000 at 29%. “Because of the economic crisis, I believe many [for-profit] companies will shift their cause focus toward [nonprofits] helping people with basic needs such as hunger, clothing, housing and medical care,” says David Hessekiel, founder of Cause Marketing Forum. “I think you’ll see more nonprofits positioning their work to emphasize how they are helping people get through these difficult times.” —Michele Donohue, “Nonprofit-Related Sales Plummet,” NPT Weekly, 03/16/09
DeMaurice Smith, a 1985 graduate of ACSI member Cedarville University and a former NCCAA champion sprinter, has been elected the new executive director of the National Football League Players Association.
Time-sensitive COBRA information. The U.S. Department of Labor has issued new guidance on the COBRA continuation coverage* under the recently passed stimulus bill. Dr. Tom Cathey has posted on ACSI’s website all the government subsidy information. ACSI schools have until April 18, 2009, to provide all the proper notices and forms to school employees who have been involuntarily terminated since September 1, 2008. ACSI will be offering a special webinar called Understanding the New COBRA Law on April 8 at 10 a.m. MDT and noon EDT. The webinar is free, but you must register on ACSI’s website. The webinar will address details of the new law and of how to implement the program.
*“The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events. Qualified individuals may be required to pay the entire premium for coverage up to 102 percent of the cost to the plan.” —USDOL