keptical that the bill will get out of committee. If it does, we'll take t=
he next steps.
Cheers.
PFB
Patrick F. Bassett, President
N A T I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N O F I N D E P E N D E N T S C H O=
O L S
1620 L St., NW, Washington, DC 20036
202.973.9710 (Office)
202.746.5444 (Cell)
202-247-9667 (Fax)
bassett@nais.org www.nais.org
www.twitter.com/PatBassett
www.facebook.com/NAISnetwork
From: Arizona Scholarship Fund [mailto:azscholarshipfund@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 2:38 PM
To: contact@acsphx.org
Subject: CAPSO E-Alert: New Federal Bill Threatens to Impose Mandates
Dear Administrator,
Below is a copy of an email from the California Association of Private
School Organizations. We are circulating the email to Arizona private
schools to alert you to some federal legislation that may have an effect
on the private school industry. If you feel the issues are relevant to
your school community, please feel free to forward it.
California Association of Private School Organizations
February 16, 2010
Federal Legislation Threatens to Impose Unfunded Mandate on Private
Schools
A bill currently pending in the U.S. House of Representatives threatens
to subject a broad array of private religious and independent schools to
an unprecedented degree of federal regulation.
HR 4247, authored by California Representative George Miller, would
place various mandates relating to the use of pupil restraint and
seclusion, including staff training, monitoring and reporting
requirements, upon any private school in which students receive benefits
from federally funded programs. Thus, a school in which a single pupil
received Title I services would become subject to the (unfunded) federal
mandates.
According to the Council for American Private Education (CAPE): "In the
history of education legislation, the federal government has never
imposed training or certification requirements on religious and
independent schools for any reason." The policy HR 4247 would establish
places private schools "...between a rock and a hard place: [they may
either] accept the federal intrusion in policies and practices or give
up participation in federal programs that benefit students and their
teachers."
The bill's provisions appear to be informed by a government report
titled "Seclusions and Restraints: Selected Cases of Death and Abuse at
Public and Private Schools and Treatment Centers." The report allows
for the impression that the incidence of abuses linked to the use of
seclusion and restraint is widespread, occurring throughout the national
private school universe. Yet, a closer examination of the document
reveals that virutally all reported cases of such abuse took place in a
relatively small sub-set of schools - often residential facilities -
established to educate a special needs population. While the problem is
real, and warrants the establishment of safeguards, HR 4247 would impose
regulations upon a vast number of private schools without sufficient
cause.
Opposition to the bill in its current form can be expressed by visiting
CAPE's Legislative Action Center (see sidebar on right), and sending a
pre-scripted e-mail (which can be personalized) to your U.S.
Representative. Additional information about the bill, and reactions
from CAPSO and CAPE can be found using the accompanying links in the
right sidebar.
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