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The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed initially by Congress in 1965 to authorize programs to benefit educationally needy elementary and secondary students living in areas with high concentrations of children from low-income families.  The law has been reauthorized periodically, and is now called  No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

 

The law established two very important principles for providing services to students in public, private and religious schools:

 

1) child benefit: Special types of assistance or services are provided primarily for students and their teachers and parents and only incidentally for the school they attended.

2) public trusteeship: Aid is channeled through public authorities (state and local educational agencies) who receive the ESEA funds and act as trustees on behalf of all the eligible children in their community, regardless of the type of school they attended.

 

Under ESEA programs, services are provided to students and teachers-- no money is channeled to the schools. Consequently, Catholic school students and personnel are legally permitted to participate in ESEA programs without compromising First Amendment issues regarding separation of church and state.

 

To ensure that private school students, teachers, and other personnel have every opportunity to participate in federal education programs for which they are eligible, private school officials should contact their local public school district and establish a positive, productive working relationship with the LEA federal programs coordinator.

 

 

The Uniform Provisions govern the participation of private school students and teachers in the various Titles under NCLB:

(1) Equitable Services: Except as otherwise provided in this Act, LEAs shall, after timely and meaningful consultation with appropriate private school officials, provide to those children and their teachers or other educational personnel, on an equitable basis, special educational services or other benefits that address their needs under the program.

 

(2) Secular, Neutral, And Non-ideological Services or Benefits: Educational services or other benefits, including materials and equipment, provided under this section, shall be secular, neutral, and non-ideological.

 

(3) Special Rule: Educational services and other benefits provided under this section for private school children, teachers, and other educational personnel shall be equitable in comparison to services and other benefits for public school children, teachers, and other educational personnel participating in the program and shall be provided in a timely manner.

 

(4) Expenditures: Funds allocated for educational services and other benefits provided under this section for eligible private school children, their teachers, and other educational personnel serving those children shall be equal, taking into account the number and educational needs of the children to be served, to the expenditures for participating public school children.

 

Click here for the guidance document on Title IX implementation.

 

Consultation Requirements
1) The local education agency (public school district) is obligated to consult with the private school officials about equitable and meaningful participation of their students and teachers prior to making decisions about how programs and services will be delivered.

 

2) Consultation must take place during the design, development and implementation of the program to better insure that the actual needs of the private school students and teachers, not the administrative efficiency of the public school district, are the highest priority.

 

3) To safeguard the equitable services provisions, is imperative that the private school officials alert the LEA that they want to participate in programs for which they are eligible and insist upon being kept informed about all aspects of NCLB programs in the same manner and at the same time as the public schools.

 

 

 

The current version of ESEA is called the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  The purpose of the NCLB is to improve teaching and learning for all children to enable them to meet challenging academic content and student performance standards.

NCLB sets some new strategic directions to reform American education. The focus of President Bush's education agenda is to shift federal education dollars away from an emphasis on improving schools to an improvement of student performance and a closing of the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers. NCLB is structured to tie funding to accountability and results.

 

All states are now required to set high standards in math and reading and to develop assessments that will measure progress by annually testing of all students in grades 3 through 8 in both math and reading. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card," will be used to test a sample of students in each state as a validation of the of the state test results.

 

Schools are required to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), measured incrementally, leading to 100 per cent of the students at the level of academic proficiency at the end of twelve years.

 

If a public school fails to make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, additional resources will be provided by the district to spur improvement.  At that time students must be offered the alternative to transfer to a better performing public school, with the district providing transportation.

 

If a school fails to progress for a third year, the school must offer students supplemental services chosen by the parents.  Such services may include private tutors or programs sponsored by religious organizations. 

 

 

 

To access the provisions of the NCLB law pertaining specifically to students enrolled in private and religious schools, click here.