Private school CARES Act support a victory for state advocates

This week, private schools throughout Missouri finally got approval to receive emergency support through the CARES Act after a long summer of uncertainty.

The announcement of allocations of federal funding to help private schools deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was a major victory, and one CEAM has been fighting for since April.

When the pandemic hit in the spring, both public and non-public schools had to focus on meeting the immediate needs of their students and figuring out a way to keep learning going for the end of the 2019-20 school year.

At the same time, CEAM recognized that the pandemic could have dramatic financial impacts on non-public schools that depended on tuition, scholarships, and endowments for daily operational costs.

We immediately started working with our friends in the MORE Network (a network of private school choice advocates) and at MO-CAPE (the major non-public school association in Missouri) to encourage advocacy actions focused on fighting to make sure non-public schools got their fair share of emergency funding during the crisis.

Schools across connected with state and federal leaders to ask for fairness in the distribution of emergency funding.

Our friends at MO-CAPE provided schools with continuing guidance on the CARES Act funding process and advice on how to communicate with local and state officials involved in the distribution of funds.

By bringing schools, parents, and other like-minded organizations together for a focused advocacy effort, we were all able to secure badly needed funding to help make sure that every Missouri child has an equal chance of learning safely and effectively in the fall.