Senate Bill Would Fund ‘Parent Replacement Centers’ For 5 More Years

(CNSNews) – A Senate-passed education bill would extend an existing federal program that funds “full service community schools” for another five years.

Such schools provide comprehensive year-round, around-the-clock social services to students and their families, but critics refer to them as “parent replacement centers.”

The Full-Service Community Schools Act of 2015 (S. 1787) introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was added on as an amendment to the Senate reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act called the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 (S.1177).

The reauthorization easily cleared the Senate on an 81-to-17 vote on July 16.

A congressional conference will reconcile the Senate bill with the House's Student Success Act (H.R.5), which passed July 8 on a 218-to-213 party-line vote. However, the House reauthorization of NCLB does not contain funding for full-service community schools.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Full Service Community Schools Program has awarded $55.2 million to various applicants since FY 2008, with preference given to groups that operate in the White House’s designated Promise Zones.

The department filed a notice in the Federal Register on May 6 soliciting applications for the program, which will be paid for by The Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE).

Applicants, defined as “consortia consisting of a local educational agency and one or more community-based organizations,” can request up to $500,000 for each of five years, for a maximum of $2.5 million. So far this year, the department has awarded 12 grants totaling $5.2 million.

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