COAL TOWNSHIP - A newly established scholarship to offset tuition to Catholic schools in the Harrisburg Diocese could open the doors of Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School to scores of area children.
The Neumann Scholarship Foundation was gifted $246,213 during a school assembly Monday - funding that is specifically earmarked for Lourdes.
The funding was made possible through a homegrown effort to recruit businesses to participate in a state tax credit program - Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program - that directly benefits a school of choice.
Based on the combined average tuition paid for elementary and high school students, the money could offset full cost of tuition for nearly 85 students in 2013-14.
Wider impact could be had through the award of partial scholarships.
Financial restrictions on the scholarship are well above average household incomes reported in local communities, according to 2010 Census data.
"There may be parents who were thinking of sending a child to Our Lady of
Lourdes and can't afford it. Now you can come and get a scholarship," said Jacqueline Kerris, Lourdes' director of development.
"Most people will qualify," she said.
Income eligibility
There are 425 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade at Lourdes, up about 70 students from last year, Kerris said.
The cost to send a student to the elementary school for one year is $2,100; high school, $3,700.
Household income must be below $75,000 to qualify for the Neumann scholarship. That number balloons $15,000 with each dependent.
A household with two children would need to earn less than $105,000 to qualify, well above the mean incomes of Coal Township, Shamokin and surrounding communities.
The income eligibility for next school year has increased over the limits set for 2012-13.
Awareness 'key'
Tony Varano Jr., a business professional and Lourdes alumnus, helped lead the effort for the Catholic school to benefit from a decade-old program that expanded under Gov. Tom Corbett's administration.
The Our Lady of Lourdes Alumni Foundation was formed last year, and its members spent four weeks learning about EITC. After that, they pushed to raise awareness by recruiting other alumni and local business leaders to participate in the program.
"Awareness of the program was key. The support and love for the school is in our community. They, the business leaders, just needed to be aware of the program and then it was an easy decision for them," Varano said during a school assembly Monday at which a ceremonial oversized check was presented to Bishop Joseph P. McFadden for the Neumann Scholarship Foundation.
Response to a call made by Our Lady of Lourdes Alumni Foundation was so generous that the school in one year soared from bottom to top in EITC money earmarked to schools in the diocese, he said.
McFadden, who offered prayer for the victims of the shooting massacre in Newtown, Conn., said after the assembly that the use of tax money to the benefit of a private Catholic school is a step in the right direction.
That a parent of a child who attends private school pays tax money to support public education, even when public education isn't supporting their child, is a civil rights issue and one of "bigotry," he said.
"The money should follow the child," he said, stressing that in the case of EITC benefitting the Neumann Scholarship Fund, it is doing just that.
Just beginning
The scholarship money will roll over from one year to the next if it is not all awarded ahead of 2013-14, Kerris said; however, the goal is to give it to eligible families and boost the school's enrollment.
Apart from helping families, it also helps the school by freeing up cash that had been used for tuition assistance. Kerris said greater investment can now be made in the facility and educational tools.
With this year's EITC funding, Varano said Lourdes is just beginning to reap the tax credit program's benefits. Next year, the hope is to more than double the money.
"I hope with your work and dedication to be back here next year to present the bishop a check for $500,000 or more," he said during the assembly.
An open house will be held at Lourdes during Catholic Schools Week from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3. All parents interested in exploring the school's offerings are urged to attend, and further information on the event will be released as the date approaches.
For more information on the scholarship, e-mail OLOLinfo@supportlourdes.org.