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In this issue:
 • Roswell Event
 • Katrina Legislation

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Educate New Mexico Event in Roswell a Success!
On December 2, 2005, Educate New Mexico and the Paul McCutchen Foundation hosted a reception in Roswell designed to broaden local support for ENM’s scholarship program. The event was held at the Anderson Museum for Contemporary Art from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Board Chairman, Bob Gallagher, was on hand to welcome guests and speak on behalf of ENM and school choice. Those present also had an opportunity to meet and hear from parents and students who are currently receiving funding from ENM.

As an immediate result of this gathering, ENM raised enough money to pay for the event and add at least one additional scholarship in the Roswell area. Further, ENM is now better known in Chaves County, which will pay dividends in the future, we are sure.

If you would like to host a similar event in your community, please call Troy Williamson at (505) 797-4002.

Go back to the top of the page HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVES
HISTORIC KATRINA EDUCATION RELIEF
PHOENIX — The U.S. House of Representatives last night voted to provide relief to as many as 372,000 schoolchildren displaced by Hurricane Katrina, providing tuition reimbursement for public or private schools that have taken them in.

"This bill is a victory for children over special interest groups," declared Clint Bolick, president and general counsel of the Alliance for School Choice, which led the lobbying effort in favor of the bill along with its sister organization, Advocates for School Choice.

The bill provides tuition aid up to $6,000 per student ($7,500 for disabled students) whose families found educational refuge for them in public or private schools.

As late as Saturday, it appeared that House Republican leaders might strip the provision from the Department of Defense appropriation bill due to opposition from the National Education Association. The NEA prefers no education relief for Katrina schoolchildren at all, to a bill that provides reimbursement to public and private schools alike. But demands to keep the aid provision from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress prevailed, and the appropriation bill passed by a 308-106 vote.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where Minority Leader Harry Reid has threatened a filibuster because the bill contains provisions allowing oil drilling in Alaska. The aid provision has strong bipartisan support in the Senate.

As recently as a month ago, the aid provision appeared dead. After four Republicans voted against the aid provision, killing it in the House Education Committee, the House passed no bill at all. The Senate passed an aid bill, but it imposed onerous restrictions that would have prevented most students in religious schools from receiving aid.

Negotiations to produce a more even-handed relief measure ensued, led by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio; Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-La.; and the Bush Administration. Meanwhile, the Alliance and Advocates mobilized a lobbying team and worked with a coalition of nearly three dozen groups, including the Heritage Foundation and Council for American Private Education, to support the effort.

Bolick urged the Senate to take swift action. "These kids have had a very rough year," he said. "What a wonderful Christmas present it would be to know that at least for a year, their educational prospects are bright. What a tragedy it would be to make those kids wait any longer."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist may schedule a cloture vote against a filibuster as early as today. (Source: Alliance for School Choice — see allianceforschoolchoice.org)

Blessings to you and your family this Christmas season!

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