PACE Achievements
Take a look at some of the specific ways our work helps your child and school:
- Increased state budget support for Catholic school students/teachers from $1.5 million to over $30 million
- Garnered support for the establishment of a school nursing line-item in the state budget, with $21.5 million set aside in FY'03
- Secured the support for the passage of a Special Education statute, which ensures that all non-public school students with disabilities in Massachusetts have an individual entitlement to special education services from their public school districts. (The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Education Office has described this statute as the most generous non-public school student special education law in the nation)
- Obtained the support for the expansion of transportation services for non-public school students in grades 7-12; this has resulted in over $200,000 in new services to Boston non-public school students
- Acquired the support to include non-public school language in the following state budget line-items: school nutrition, dual enrollment, and teacher internet discount program (the dual enrollment and teacher internet discount programs for both public and nonpublic schools were not funded in FY'03)
- Gained the support to adopt a statute that requires school districts to provide tutorial services for non-public school students, who are going to be out sick for a prolonged period of time due to serious medical illness
- Developed a collaborative relationship with the U.S. Department of Education and Massachusetts Department of Education to ensure that all non-public school students and teachers receive their fair share from the No Child Left Behind Act
- Worked with parents and The Becket Fund to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court challenging the anti-aid and anti-initiative petition provisions in the state constitution
- Established a new funding paradigm for federal competitive grants, availing Catholic school to millions of dollars in reading and technology revenues and resources
- Sought and received a favorable legal opinion from the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services opening the way for voucher-eligible parents to select Catholic schools to provide preschool and after school child care services
- Initiated, with the support of the Catholic Schools Foundation, and the Center for Educational Partnerships, a comprehensive poverty data collection project among Archdiocese of Boston schools to improve eligibility programs that address the academic and non-academic needs of undeserved students.
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