Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
Lenders may begin processing loan applications as soon as April 3, 2020.
Paycheck Protection Program provides $350 billion for federally guaranteed loans to small employers (under 500 employees), nonprofits are eligible. The portion of the loan used for maintaining payroll has the potential to be forgiven. It is expected that loans will be disbursed on a first come, first served basis. A sample application form can be found here.
- Whether use of these loans will lead to recipient of “federal financial assistance” status and the obligations that come with that;
- Whether these loans can be used to pay the salaries of teachers involved in religious instruction; and
- In the case of Catholic schools, whether the 500 employee limit will be based on the number of employees at a particular school or the number of employees in the diocese.
Emergency Sick Leave and Emergency Family & Medical Leave
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act creates a national paid sick leave law and expands the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), a CAPE member organization, has posted this very helpful explanation of the new paid sick leave and FMLA provisions.
Partial Above-the-Line Deduction for Charitable Contributions
The CARES Act permits a deduction of up to $300 for cash contributions to charitable organizations, whether taxpayers itemize their deductions or not.
Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund
The law requires equitable services to be provided to private schools under this program as well.
Includes $3 billion for governors to provide emergency support to schools most impacted by coronavirus. The law requires equitable services to be provided to private schools under this program as well. USDE guidance is forthcoming, but in the meantime, private schools should work with their State CAPEs to ensure that governors are aware of their needs.
Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL)
Congress expanded the already existing Economic Injury Disaster Loan program to include a $10,000 advance.
Unemployment Insurance
The CARES Act includes emergency unemployment insurance benefits for individuals affected by the pandemic.
Hanging Together
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At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin famously said, “We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” In the here and now, the private school community is hanging together to get through this extraordinary and difficult time.
You know that CAPE is in the nation’s capital, fighting to make sure that private schools are included in federal relief packages for K-12. But do not forget that State CAPEs across the country are in the trenches, working each and every day with governors, ombudsmen, and schools to ensure that private schools weather this storm. Meanwhile, CAPE’s national member organizations are doing yeoman’s work in the halls of Congress (if only remotely) and with their schools’ administrators and teachers.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), Agudath Israel of America, and the Montessori Public Policy Initiative (MPPI) have been particularly engaged on the advocacy front, as well as two CAPE member organizations that have set up indispensable coronavirus resource web pages:
These pages are being continually updated with everything from invitations to webinars, to analyses of federal policies, so make visiting them a regular part of your day.
However, CAPEs work would not be possible without the support and tireless efforts of all of its member organizations, listed below. As always, it’s a team effort.
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