Creates a facilitator center for private and parochial schools

1 Co-sponsor

• Ruben Diaz

Title of bill

An act to amend the education law, in relation to establishment of a facilitator center for private and parochial schools

Purpose

To establish a mechanism to more efficiently and effectively administer federal, state and local education funds intended to benefit the students and teachers in the state's independent and religious schools and to promote, foster and encourage academic excellence and scholastic achievement in such schools.

Summary of provisions

Section one establishes the Facilitator Center for Independent and Religious Schools as a means by which such schools may choose to have their respective federal, state, and/or local education funds administered.

Section two establishes an immediate effective date

Justification

A number of state and federal education funding programs are designed to benefit all children and teachers regardless of whether they are in public or independent/religious schools. These include 12 of the 16 title programs under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as well as the state's several instructional material aid programs.

In most cases, however, these funds, including the funds intended to benefit children and teachers in independent and religious schools, must be administered in public schools, which further burdens public school administrators with programs designed to benefit children for which they have no direct responsibility. Moreover, independent and religious school administrators often find it difficult to access such funds in an efficient, effective and timely manner.

The Regional Facilitator Center for Nonpublic Schools was established in the early 1980s to serve independent and religious schools throughout the state. In addition to other services, the Facilitator Center has served as a "third party administrator" for a number of the federal education title program funds on behalf of groups of religious and independent schools.

Codifying the Facilitator Center in state law will enable the religious and independent schools to choose to have their state education funding programs administered by the Facilitator Center. This will provide significant administrative relief for public school districts currently required to administer such programs and will enable religious and independent school administrators to access these programs more effectively and efficiently for their students and teachers.

Legislative history

This is a new bill

Fiscal implications

None to the state or public school districts.

Effective date

Immediately.