Scholarship organizations are just beginning to take money so it seems unlikely they will grant any scholarships this school year.
Hundreds of Allentown and Bethlehem Area students attending 22 state-designated low-performing schools became eligible this year for scholarships to attend other schools.
But few, if any, students have received scholarships and left their home schools as the holiday season approaches. And it doesn't seem like any of the state-approved Lehigh Valley nonprofits tasked with awarding the scholarships expect to issue any for this school year.
The Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program was signed into law this summer and puts $50 million in business tax credits up for grabs for businesses that donate to state-approved opportunity scholarship organizations.
Students attending the 414 public schools that landed on the state's list of low-performing schools can use the scholarships to enroll in new schools as long as students meet financial aid guidelines.
The state has a 63-page list of schools, largely non-public, that are accepting transfers as well as 23-pages of approved scholarship groups. In Lehigh and Northampton counties, 45 schools are accepting students and there are three approved scholarship groups on the list.
Parents must contact the scholarship groups, not the state, to apply for scholarships and find a new school.
When details of how the program would work were released in August, officials said at the time that Gov. Tom Corbett was eager to make the scholarships available this school year.
The Department of Community and Economic Development has approved around $10 million in business contributions and a little over $2.7 million of that has been sent to the scholarship organizations, spokesman Steven Kratz said Thursday.
The department expects that figure to grow as more businesses hit the 90 day post-approval deadline to report their contribution; they have 60 days after their approval to make the contribution, Kratz said.
"As is the case with any new program, the administration anticipated that it would take time getting the program up and running," Kratz said.
The department could not say how many students have received scholarships because the law doesn't require organizations to disclose that until they submit a renewal application, according to the law, Kratz said.
Bethlehem Area Superintendent Joseph Roy, who has criticized how the list of schools was compiled, said no students have left the seven schools on the state list. Allentown officials said they have no way of tracking why a student leaves the district.
Allentown Superintendent Russell Mayo said he wants to keep students in the district because urban educators can serve them best.
"It does take resources from our school district when the money follows the child to some other place," Mayo said. "It diminishes our budget and therefore diminishes the opportunities for our remaining students."
The Swain School in Salisbury Township, one of the approved scholarship organizations, has received more than 100 phone calls inquiring about the program, said Judy Skinner, the school's associated head for advancement.
"You had no money so you couldn't give it to anybody,"
Skinner said of the beginning of the school year.
Three weeks before school started, schools learned the details of the program and now must actually solicit funds themselves, Skinner said. The application process to be a scholarship organization was confusing and involved several steps, she said.
"They're not making it very easy in Harrisburg," Skinner said. "They just didn't make it very clear."
Swain has received some business contributions and expects to start providing scholarships next year, which Skinner said seems to be the norm. Applicants will have to meet Swain's admission requirements and the financial aid package will include the opportunity scholarship, she said.
The Diocese of Allentown's Eastern Pennsylvania Scholarship Fund is in a similar situation.
"There is a lot of interest. We've gotten a lot of phone calls," said Matt Kerr, diocese spokesman. "We are in the process of raising the money from the people who can qualify for the tax credits and the plan is to have scholarships to offer for the next school year."
The state is confident the program will grow, Kratz said, noting the Educational Improvement Tax Credit was created in fiscal year 2001-02 with a cap of $30 million and it's grown to be oversubscribed at $100 million.
"We are confident that the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit program will be fully up and running for the beginning of the next new school year," Kratz said.
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SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
A qualified scholarship organization must be a federally tax-exempt nonprofit that contributes 80 percent of its annual scholarship donations to an approved scholarship program.
Interested public and nonpublic schools must enroll with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to accept new students.
Students must attend one of the state's 414 low-performing schools and live in homes with an annual household income no greater than $60,000, plus $12,000 for each dependent household member.
Schools on the list scored in the bottom 15 percent in combined math and reading test scores based on last year's Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams.