Thus, elementary schools are more likely to lose students – and potentially close – if the EITC and OSTC programs go unfunded, Budd said. The other $5 million funded high school students. About $15 million funded elementary school students. Scholarships totaled about $20 million this year, said Jason Budd, the archdiocesan deputy secretary for catholic education. The scholarships fund students from working families whose annual income falls below $39,000 in a single-parent household or $53,000 in a two-parent household. I hope the Archbishop is encouraging people to contact Republican legislators as well." "(T)he bottom line is that money cannot be released without a budget and the governor has offered significant compromises throughout this entire process in an effort to reach an end to the budget stalemate so many different organizations can receive their funding," Sheridan wrote in an email. Wolf and the Republican legislature are engaged in a budget stalemate that has stretched nearly five months beyond the budget deadline. Wolf press secretary Jeff Sheridan said the authorizations cannot be made until the state budget is finalized. "In the case of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, this immediately builds pressure for school closures as early as next year, because the EITC and OSTC scholarships are vital to parents' ability to afford their children's education." "If these contributions are not made, then scholarships will not be available for thousands of students who attend Catholic and many other private schools," Chaput said. Tom Wolf to ensure the authorizations are made by the new year. He issued a statement Thursday urging Gov. ![]() ![]() If that process is delayed, Archbishop Charles Chaput said, more Catholic schools could be forced to shut down. The programs require authorizations for companies and the subsequent scholarship contributions to be made by the end of the year. But the Department of Community and Economic Development has stopped issuing authorizations, leaving the educational futures of scholarship students up in the air. Pennsylvania's Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs enable businesses to cover private school scholarships in exchange for tax credits. Thousands of low-income students enrolled in Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools stand to lose vital scholarships unless the state issues authorizations to businesses that contribute to qualified scholarship organizations.
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