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Greetings!
tl;dr
- A note from Pope Leo
- E-Rate in Danger - Let the FCC know its importance to our Catholic schools
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FSTC Treasury rules published last - Q&A this Thursday and at Pastor & School Leaders Meeting
- Register for Pastor & School Leaders Meeting
- Complete fall data collection
Yesterday, Pope Leo shared the following post on X: “There exists a martyrdom of those who offer their lives in a single moment, and the more hidden martyrdom of those who give their lives day after day. This is exactly what all Christians are called to do: to give our lives with love, every day.
“Our age needs men and women who have the courage to do good even when it comes at a cost. Draw close to those who are alone, support those who are weary, and seek out those who have drifted away. Have the courage to forgive, to begin again, and to engage in dialogue.
“Doing good does not always receive recognition and often requires effort, but this is the daily courage of charity. Friendship with Jesus Christ gives us the strength to live this way.”
I thought of each of you who give so freely of yourselves. I was also reminded of the image of that sailing ship from our retreat and the infused virtues of faith, hope, and charity – our sails – that provide a divine power to our work, capturing the winds of grace with ease and abundance, allowing us to achieve far beyond our own human capacity.
Our age needs to each of you, and so I am grateful for the many ways you demonstrate the courage to do good, to draw close to the weary, and seek out those who have drifted.
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Our Thursday morning meeting this week will center on this E-Rate call to action along with sharing an update regarding the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit.
Call to Action: E-Rate in Danger
As you may be aware, E-Rate is in danger of being substantially lessened or eliminated entirely by the FCC. The FCC has opened a period of public comment on their proposed rule which would substantially lessen or eliminate E-Rate. In addition, the proposed rule seeks to impose conditions on use of E-Rate which would infringe on principal and teacher decision making for determining what is best for their students.
We have an opportunity in this open comment period to let the FCC know how deep cuts or elimination of E-Rate will affect our Catholic school. The best way to do this is to submit comments to the FCC through the Federal Register. Sending comments to the FCC is important because it provides concrete, personalized examples of what E-Rate means to the operation of our schools and how these services are used responsibly. It is our opportunity to give evidence that shows why E-Rate matters and make the case that it should not be cut or eliminated.
To do so, the NCEA has offered, courtesy of one of their partners, the following template builder: https://erate.aasa.org/letter.html The form will generate a list of schools based on only your school’s ZIP. See screenshot below. Based on your selections to a few prompts, it will then generate a personalized template that you can submit.
All comments must be submitted by October 13, 2026. Step-by-step instructions on how to submit your comments to the Federal Register are here:
1. Start here: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/standard
2. In the section Proceeding(s): Select the FCC Proceeding(s) to which your filing refers:
a. Enter these four sets of numbers: 26-133 13-184 21-93 21-455
b. Type each set with a tab between each set
3. Name(s) of Filer(s): Enter the name(s) of the persons or entities whose views the filing represents
a. Input the name of the person filling out the form
4. Skip the two optional boxes
5. Primary Contact E-Mail: For confirmation receipt (Optional)
a. Enter an email address of the person completing the filing
6. In box Type of Filing, scroll down and click Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2/3 of the way down the list)
7. Skip down to Address of and use the dropdown to click Filer
8. In the next boxes enter school or diocesan address of the person filing
9. Then go to the box Click or drop files here: Upload your letter that you created using the template, being sure to put it on your organization’s letterhead
10. Then check the yellow box acknowledging you are filing a document into an official FCC proceeding
11. Click Continue to Review Screen and make any requested corrections then hit Submit
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Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC)
As many of you will recall, in the summer of 2025, Congress enacted the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit. This tax credit program allows individual tax payers to redirect up to $1,700 ($3,400 for joint filers) of their tax liability to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) to support qualified educational expenses, including tuition, fees, academic tutoring, special needs services, books, supplies, and equipment, room and board, uniforms, transportation, and extended-day programs or other services the school requires or provides. Importantly, this program benefits every student, whether they are enrolled in public, Catholic, independent, or home schools.
While this is federal legislation, every governor must opt in individually for their respective state. Last week, final rules were published by the Treasury, which will inform Gov. Ferguson’s decision as to whether Washington state will opt in.
Several of you have asked over the last couple of months what you could do to encourage the governor or you have had parents asking if they could coordinate a letter writing campaign. At the moment, we continue to request that we do not coordinate a letter writing campaign from our schools. The Fulcrum Foundation has been partnering over the course of the last year with various non-profits and partners in education who support both public and private schools to form a coalition to understand how this tax credit can benefit every child. To learn more about the coalition, visit https://wastudentsuccess.org/).
Recently, a few members of this coalition published an op-ed in The Seattle Times highlighting why this does benefit every child. This credit would be significant for our Catholic schools, but I sincerely believe that if allowed to reach its full potential it will also strengthen growth and achievement outcomes for every child in Washington state.
We will provide a brief Q&A at our Thursday meeting this week. A more complete conversation will take place at our Pastor and School Leaders Meeting later this month, and we will be joined by Fulcrum for that conversation.
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Fall Pastor and School Leaders Meeting
We have opened our registration for our annual meeting of school leaders and pastoral leadership. Our meeting this year will be held at St. Thomas in Tukwila, on Thursday, October 29. We will begin our day with Mass, celebrated by Archbishop Etienne.
Please personally extend this invitation to your pastor. In addition to the leadership pairing of the pastor and principal, if you would find it helpful, you may choose to extend the invitation to another member of the parish leadership, such as a parochial vicar, a DOO or PAA, or your School Commission Chair.
Please take a moment to register here.
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We are in the last stretch of our annual Fall Data Collection. We are asking all schools to have this completed by this week, on Wednesday, October 7.
If you have questions or problems related to OCS data collection, please contact Synthiea Kaldi (synthiea.kaldi@seattlearch.org). We appreciate your work on this essential annual task.
With gratitude,
NICHOLAS FORD | Superintendent
Office for Catholic Schools | Archdiocese of Seattle
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