All of the legislative issues described in this document are grounded in Church Teaching and flow from policies established by the Bishops. They are divided into categories based on the likelihood of Congressional action. Depending on developments during the two-year life of a Congress, issues may move to another of the categories. This is not intended to either prioritize or ascribe a level of relative importance to these issues.

Lobbying: Substantively important issue addressed in legislation which either is expected to be approved by Congress or is likely to be introduced at the initiative of USCCB and on which the USCCB expects to take a formal position.

The USCCB expects to commit all appropriate lobbying efforts including grass roots activity to influence the disposition of specific legislation addressing the issue.

Proactive Advocacy: Substantively important issue addressed in legislation which may be considered by Congress on which the USCCB expects to take a formal position.

The USCCB expects to commit educational resources at the grass roots level, as well as utilize all appropriate lobbying efforts, to raise Congressional awareness of USCCB’s position and, if appropriate, to influence the disposition of legislation addressing the issue.

General Advocacy: Substantively important issue addressed in legislation which may or may not be considered by Congress on which the USCCB may or may not make a formal statement.

The USCCB intends to track these issues closely in order to determine what the USCCB action should be, if Congress decides to take action on one of them.

Monitoring: Substantively important issue that is addressed in legislation, or which may be proposed, which the USCCB intends to closely monitor and track to determine what USCCB action might be.

Governing Legislative Principles


We Support Legislation that:

• allows all parents, but especially low and middle income parents, to choose the education they believe is best suited for their children.
• provides services to students and teachers in private and religious schools when services aimed at improving the educational environment or responding to catastrophic events, especially for those most at risk, are available to students and teachers in public schools

We Support Legislation that:

• continues to fund the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program
• provides tax credits for personal and corporate donations to organizations providing scholarships for children.
• provides refundable tax credits/deductions for families with children  to help pay for various educational expenses, including tuition.

Budget/Appropriations 

 We Support Legislation that:

• continues or increases funding for all federal programs benefiting public, private, and religious school  students and teachers (e.g., NCLB, IDEA, HEA, PERKINS CAREER/TECHNICAL ED., etc.)

Early Childhood 

We Support Legislation that:

• includes Universal Pre-K initiatives that assist parents to choose among public, private and religious pre-schools

We Support Legislation that:

• retains the “child benefit” theory as the basic operating principle for participation in programs.
• retains language to protect the full and equitable participation of eligible students and their teachers in private and religious schools in all covered programs.
• ensures that funds generated by students in private and religious schools be used for services to them or to their teachers.
• revises the funding formulas for Titles I-A and II-A to restore equitable sharing of allocated funds.
• provides for the participation of private and religious school students and teachers in any newly proposed programs as well as in existing programs that are not currently available to them.
• provides the most flexible language for determining eligibility to participate and for providing timely and meaningful notification of the amount of  funds available for programs providing services for private and religious school children and their teachers.
• strengthens the requirement for the LEA and SEA to consult with appropriate private and religious school representatives prior to making any program or funding decisions.
• includes among the issues of required consultation the issue of pooling funds generated by private and religious school students for the purposes of improving services to students and teachers and enabling more efficient use of funds.
• establishes meaningful consequences for an LEA or SEA’s failure to carry out provisions of NCLB (e.g. timely and meaningful consultation) relating to the participation in programs of private and religious school students and teachers.
• includes statutory language that requires on-site delivery of services to students in private and religious schools unless there is a specific agreement to the contrary.
• provides for the effective participation of private and religious school representatives on all program advisory boards.
• expands the participation of representatives of private and religious schools in the evaluation of NCLB program administration.
• streamlines the bypass provision and the complaint process and shortens the bypass/complaint implementation timeline.

We Support Legislation that:

• provides adequate funding for federal child nutrition programs, such as the school breakfast and lunch programs.

We Support Legislation that:

• ensures continued inclusion of private and religious schools in the Universal Service provisions.
• increases the level of funding available and does not change the way the E-Rate program is currently financed, that is, through the Universal Service Fund and not from federal appropriations.
• simplifies the E-Rate application process.
• provides for adequate protections against waste, fraud, and abuse.

We Support Legislation that:

• provides tax credits to teachers in public, private, and religious schools to cover educational expenses.
• provides for programs of professional development for teachers in public, private, and religious schools.

Environmental Hazards and Safety Issues Affecting School Children

We support legislation that:

• requires independent studies that provide scientifically-based evidence of  environmental and safety hazards that might affect both students and staff in public, private, and religious schools.
• includes adequate and equitable funding for public, private, and religious schools to address such scientifically-based evidence of environmental hazards and issues of health, fire, and safety, including technical assistance to and training of school personnel.

Homeland Security/Child Protection

We support legislation that:

• protects the institutional safety and security of children to ensure that private and religious schools are included on an equitable basis.

Catastrophic Events

We support legislation that:

• prepares for or responds to catastrophic events similar to 9/11,  hurricanes, or pandemic diseases and treats public, private and religious school students, teachers and families equitably.

Reauthorization of Child Care Block Grant Act

We support legislation that:

• retains the current certificate option.
• includes private, faith-based, and family-based providers and is not limited to Government based or institutional providers.
• provides sufficiently flexible language relating to standards and licensing to allow private, family, and faith-based groups to offer such services.

Monitor proposals:

• implementing the law and final regulations as they affect parentally placed students in private and religious schools.

Monitor proposals:

• implementing the legislation as it affects students, teachers, and parents in private and religious schools.

Monitor proposal:

• to ensure private and religious schools are included in proposals to help meet health, fire, and safety codes.

Monitor proposal:

• implementing the 2008 Higher Education Act as they relate to student loans and campus emergency regulations.

Approved by the Committee on Catholic Education on December 2, 2008

Email us at catholiceducation@usccb.org
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