Pennsylvania Pushing for Educational Opportunity
Rachel Sheffield /
Families and students in the nation’s capital won big over the weekend, as Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) secured language to reauthorize and expand the acclaimed D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program as part of the long-term continuing resolution. This week, legislators not too far north in Pennsylvania have the opportunity to expand school choice for students in their state.
Just yesterday, Pennsylvania’s Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill—The Opportunity Scholarship Act—to extend school choice under Pennsylvania’s existing Educational Improvement Tax Credit program. In the next day or two, a floor vote is expected. Currently available to low- and middle-income students, the expanded EITC (not to be confused with the federal Earned Income Tax Credit) would raise the family income level so that more children would be eligible to attend a private school of their choice. Additionally, the legislation would provide state-funded opportunity scholarships to low-income students who attend the state’s lowest-performing schools.
Since 2001, Pennsylvania’s EITC program has opened the door for low-income students to attend private schools of their choice by providing tax credits to businesses that donate to eligible scholarship-granting organizations. Eligible students are then able to apply to the organizations for a scholarship, which they can use at participating private schools. (more…)