A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report “affirmed much of what people working in private schools already know as far as challenges in accessing equitable services,” according to the Council for American Private Education (CAPE).
It investigated the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) oversight of equitable services for private schools in federal programs covered by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
The report found that lack of training for federally-required ombudsmen could be contributing to private schools not receiving equitable services and that USDE “has not made it a priority to process appeals timely nor clarify its expectations” for its complaint process.
Private schools from other states reported feeling intimidated or misunderstood by their federally-required Private School Ombudsman, who is supposed to assist schools in accessing the services.
Thankfully, because of WCRIS’ public-private partnership with the DPI, your Ombudsman understands the challenges private schools encounter. This is something that private schools in other states are unfortunately lacking.
Because of its large population of private schools, Wisconsin was one of five states selected for virtual site visits. Abbie Pavela, WCRIS Project Manager and state ESSA Ombudsman, was interviewed for the report.
Pavela said about the interview, “I appreciated the opportunity to share some of my concerns. They appeared to have been echoed by other state ombuds, as well as by other private school stakeholders. Our unique perspective was welcomed since Wisconsin is the only state with an ombudsman located outside of their state education agency.”
