State representatives of the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) meet monthly to coordinate responses to legislation that could affect private schools.
This month, members devoted significant time to discussing the current state of the U.S. Department of Education. While the office within the USDOE that supports private schools (ONPE) appears to remain intact, the current presidential administration—aiming to “return education to the states”—has begun “streamlining” the Department by reallocating various functions across six other federal agencies.
Members expressed concern that this restructuring could create new challenges for schools. One of the Department’s long-recognized strengths has been its role as a single, reliable point of contact for all education-related inquiries. Distributing those responsibilities across multiple agencies may complicate communication and make it more difficult for schools to get consistent, timely answers.
The other topic for discussion was a platform initiated by the network to organize state legislative information. This will allow members to search for legislative responses to common private education issues across the states. Technology has made this coordination easier and the potential impact will be significant.
