(Harrisburg, PA – July 6, 2010) – REACH Alliance and Foundation applauds lawmakers for restoring funding for Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program to $60 million. The EITC, established in 2001, is an educational program that helps children get the chance to attend the best school available to them and provides enhanced opportunities for kids in public schools.
EITC was funded at $60 million last year when the program was cut by $15 million. As a result, approximately 6,000 scholarships were lost. This year the program was scheduled to be cut by an additional $10 million, but the General Assembly was able to circumvent the planned reduction and hold the line on funding.
“In these tough economic times, it is heartening to see all four caucuses work together to preserve a program that is so important to Pennsylvania’s families,” says Otto V. Banks, executive director of REACH. “This is truly a bipartisan effort and we are thankful that lawmakers recognize the value of the EITC. Deeper cuts to the program would have been devastating to the schoolchildren of Pennsylvania.”
Many in the Legislature have called the EITC program the best educational initiative passed in Pennsylvania in the past 15 years. Funds for the program come from businesses, which make contributions to non-profit scholarship or educational improvement organizations. Since the program’s inception in 2001, more than 3,600 companies have pledged nearly $490 million to EITC organizations.
The program benefits both public and private schools in Pennsylvania, and actually saves the state money – each student attending private schools saves the state approximately $12,000 in education costs. If all 44,000 students receiving EITC scholarships would re-enter the public school system, it would cost Pennsylvania taxpayers an additional $531.6 million per year. The EITC program has received bipartisan support since its inception.
For more information about the REACH Alliance’s efforts to restore full funding to educational improvement tax credits, visit www.operationrestorepa.org
What is the REACH Alliance? Founded in 1991, REACH is the Pennsylvania’s grassroots coalition for school choice. For more information on the REACH Alliance & Foundation, visit www.paschoolchoice.org.
