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Legislative Action News Alert September, 2003
Subject: Update on Nonpublic School
Recognition
I wanted to update everyone on our progress towards reinstating the
nonpublic school recognition program.
First, our grassroots activism (your calls, emails and faxes) made a
huge difference! The State Board of Education decided to process all of
the applications for state recognition for the next school year that were submitted by nonpublic schools on time. This includes the vast majority of our Catholic schools and means that we have another year before our schools are not recognized. Also, the State Board has agreed to support legislation mandating they perform the nonpublic school recognition process. The State Board of Education made these concessions because of the pressure you exerted!
Thank you!
Second, to reinstate the program, we are going to introduce legislation mandating the state board recognize nonpublic schools. I have drafted this legislation, and it will soon be circulating among supportive groups and legislators. I have talked with many legislators, and they have all indicated support. I am meeting with the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff for Education next week, and I hope good progress will be made there.
Finally, what can you do? At this point, not much. Of course, if you can contact your legislators and the Governor's office to urge support of the nonpublic school recognition process that would be helpful. However, when we introduce our legislation, either in November in veto session or January for spring session, I will need all of you to actively engage your legislators and ask for their vote. So do not burn yourself out now but realize your help will be needed soon. If you want to contact your legislators or the Governor's office in the meantime, here are ways to do so: You can find out who your representative and senator are by visiting the Illinois General Assembly's web site (www.legis.state.il.us) and
clicking on the "Legislator Lookup" link or by calling the Catholic Conference of Illinois at 217-528-9200 or 312-368-1066.
You can write, email or call the Governor at:
The Honorable Rod Blagojevich
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-0244
email: governor@state.il.us
Thanks again everybody! We will win this fight, and it will help us in
others!Zachary H. Wichmann
Associate Director for Education
Catholic Conference of Illinois
217-528-9200
Legislative Action News Alert July, 2003
Subject: EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT:
Nonpublic School Recognition
Last Thursday night (July 24, 2003), the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) decided to eliminate its state recognition process for nonpublic schools. On Friday, I informed many of their staff of our total opposition to this move and out intention to work hard to reverse their decision. Also on Friday, each diocesan Office of Catholic Education and the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools (ICNS) was informed and asked to contact ISBE to lodge formal protest and ask for a reconsideration of this ill-advised decision. Now, I am asking the same of every school.
The state recognition process is important to us for many reasons. A few include:
- Participation in IHSA athletics
- Student access to many scholarships
- Many colleges and universities require attendance at a state
recognized secondary school as a prerequisite for admission
- Many federal, state, and local grants are only open to state
recognized schools
- Some teacher retirement and professional development programs require employment by a state recognized schools
All of our schools apply for and receive state recognition. We do this for the benefit of our students, teachers, administrators, and
families. We cannot allow ISBE to end this process. They will tell you they have to do this due to budget cuts. I am telling you that the
program is relatively inexpensive ($300,000 a year), and we were in the process of working with ISBE to streamline and improve the program for future years. Please call, email, and fax ISBE and tell them of your objection to this
decision. There is a meeting with the State Superintendent (Dr. Schiller) on August 15th. We want ISBE to feel as much pressure as we can put before that meeting. If that meeting is unproductive we will step up our efforts in other venues. Below is the contact information you can use to contact ISBE. Thank you so much for your support and efforts. We need every bit.
Write to:
Illinois State Board of Education
Dr. Robert Schiller
100 N. 1st Street
Springfield, IL 62777
or
100 W. Randolph, Suite 14-300
Chicago, IL 60602
Call (These are general numbers; ask to leave a message for Dr.
Schiller):
866 - 262 - 6663
312 - 814 - 2220
Email:
Visit the ISBE web site (www.isbe.state.il.us). On the bottom of their page is a link "Contact Us." Click that link, fill out the short form and log your message in the "Comments" section.
Zachary H. Wichmann
Associate Director for Education
Catholic Conference of Illinois
217-528-9200
When you or one of your LAPs call ISBE, they are going to tell you they do not handle this and you should call the Governor's office. This is
not the case! They have tried that with me and everyone else who has called them. ISBE made the decision and they have to handle our complaints and should overturn their decision to eliminate the nonpublic school recognition program.
That is our simple message. If you want to go into more detail, refer to the opportunities and privileges lost and the low cost of the program as explained in my previous alert. Let's keep the pressure up. More phone calls, letters, and emails. Also know that IHSA has agreed to let all of our schools participate in athletic events for the coming year, and IHSA's Executive Director has assured me that they will work with us on reinstating the nonpublic school recognition program.
This is good news, but we all recognize that athletics is not the only or most important thing at stake here.
Zachary H. Wichmann
Associate Director for Education
Catholic Conference of Illinois
217-528-9200
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