The REACH Foundation, the organization instrumental in promoting EITC and OSTC in Harrisburg, announced that Rep. James Santora introduced House Bill 1875 that would establish a permanent fix for the lack of approval of credits during a budget impasse, preventing the delay of approval notices from happening in the future. The bill would also preserve the chronological priority of EITC & OSTC applications. See the proposed bill here

The Council for American Private Education has been a loyal ally in our efforts to keep our representatives and senators informed of new innovations and advancements in the educational world. With the powerful lobbies associated with the Public Education sector, we need to keep lines of communications open with such organizations to make the most of our resources. The President of ACSI, Dr. Dan Egeler serves as Treasurer on the CAPE Board of Directors. Dr. Merle Skinner, one of our own ACSIPA Leaders, serves on the state level organization PACAPE, allowing ACSIPA to have a seat at the table in matters that effect you most in Harrisburg. Of worth to note, CAPE's most recent newsletter has an excellent article recalling Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's Legacy for Private Education.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is reminding all schools (public, private, vocational, etc.) that the PA Health Department-School Nursing Division has provided a webinar (recorded for your convenience) to help your school nurses acclimate to the new online data entry system. Please note that currently school nurses (not school administrators) are required to submit school immunization records, which typically is done by your local School District Nurses. The webinar, which has been recorded to assist schools with the changes to the 2015-16 SILR, is available here for educational purposes only. Anyone wishing to view the webinar may be required to download the Webex Viewer in order to access this training. To receive 1 hour of Act 48 or Act 58 for this session, participants will need to view the webinar via Learning Management System (LMS) at www.paprepared.net.

* February 3, 2016 - Form 471 Filing Window Opened
* April 29, 2016 - Form 471 Closes
* April 1, 2016 - Last possible day to file and CERTIFY your Form 470 to meet the 28-day bidding requirement

Make sure that you reserve Wednesday, May 4, 2016 to come to Harrisburg and celebrate the 15th anniversary of the EITC program. The celebration will take place at noon on the front steps of the State Capitol Building. Thanks to the EITC program, over 44,000 students are able to attend their school of choice. This day is a time to express verbal appreciation to the legislators that support EITC and to remind them of the families impacted by this program. This event will be held rain or shine, and lunch and T-shirts will be provided. Students, parents, and teachers are encouraged to attend!

On Friday January 29, 2016 private school leaders in Pennsylvania honored Pennsylvania Representative Jim Christiana for his support of school choice. Pennsylvania Council for American Private Education (PACAPE) presented the School Choice Champion Award to Representative Christiana on behalf of Pennsylvania private schools. The event was held at the Willow Valley Doubletree Resort in Lancaster during the Association of Christian Schools International Northeast Regional Administrator Board Conference. This event was timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (January 24-30, 2016). Over 400 school administrators from the northeast region of the multistate area were expected to attend the conference.

*The School Choice Champion Award is sponsored by PACAPE.

Do you have some questions? Email us: Sam Botta, David Hegedus, Phil Puleo, Tom Hughes, Lee Saunders, Merle Skinner, Jim Smock, Dan Stone, Kevin Hoffer, Shannon Gottschalk, and Tony Wilson at: ACSIPALeaders@champion.org.

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