The Federal Office of Non-Public Education today alerted WFIS that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos sent a letter to Chief State School Officers regarding CARES Act equitable services. In the letter Devos states that the Dept. of Education will not be appealing for further inclusion of private school students in ESSR Funding. Private Schools are disappointed that the CARES Relief Funding, ESSR, was not distributed in a way that benefited most children impacted by COVID 19. As a relief fund, we expected that all children would benefit.
In WA State, tight restrictions were created that kept funding from reaching most students currently attending private schools. Only children using Title I funding in 2019-20 were eligible. However, in two counties, Skagit and Pierce, the council members have included funding for more students. Pierce distributed funding to our schools and Skagit is working on a process to do so.
WFIS is advocating for relief funding distributed by the Governor to counties and then to schools, to include children currently attending private schools.
