The new state budget includes a $75-million increase in money for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program.
In case you’re not familiar with the EITC, it has been a great help to Catholic schools and other private institutions. As the Pennsylvania Resources Council explains, eligible businesses and individuals can receive tax credits equal to 75% of their contribution, or 90% if they agree to do it for two years.
One of the biggest supporters of the EITC program is Bishop McCort Catholic High School Principal Tom Smith.
“The EITC component has been a game-changer for our school,” Smith told us. “Not just for Bishop McCort, but mainly for our families. It allows those families who might not be able to afford it, to actually come here. I can tell you firsthand that it has changed the lives of several of the kids that have come into this building over the last few years. I would say that it has impacted hundreds of kids. About 70% of our kids get EITC funding.”
Critics of the program, which include many Democratic lawmakers in Harrisburg, say the program is exploited by well-to-do families who really don’t need the money. Smith that is simply not true from his perspective.
“The concept that EITC dollars go to rich families so that they can send their kids here so they can more money at home…that is so false,” he said. “Our school resides in one of the poorest cities in Pennsylvania—in the greater Johnstown School District– and we have a lot of the kids from the city come to our school. I would say almost every one of them get EITC dollars.”
But not everyone that goes to McCort gets the financing.
“There’s a qualifier for EITC for what a family brings in in terms of income,” Smith said. “Not all of our families meet that standard. We will show you that it is not going to kids of better means. There are kids of poverty that struggle every single day, but their parents want them to be to have more opportunities in life and move forward in life and the EITC program has done that.”
Many schools reach out to members of the community to try to get them to participate in the EITC program. But it’s easy for anyone to initiate the process.
“We actually have a person here, within our school—that is their job, to do outreach for EITC,” Smith said. “She has a pamphlet that she sends out teaching people how they can become involved. It’s not that cumbersome. It’s just a one-page sheet. They fill that out, return it to us and then we send it to the state.”
