Over the past eight years, Pennsylvania’s innovative Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program has provided an educational lifeboat to tens of thousands of students all across the Commonwealth. Strong bi-partisan support by the Pennsylvania Legislature has enabled the EITC Program to be expanded four times since 2001, allowing even more businesses to participate and children to benefit.
The members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly are receiving emails from REACH with links to video testimonials from businesses, families and community leaders that highlight the statewide support of for the EITC Program at its current funding level of $75 million. Legislators are encouraged to watch these videos and take them into consideration as the budget negotiations continue. To view all of the videos on YouTube directly, visit http://www.youtube.com/reachalliance
Philadelphia Archdiocese Auxiliary Bishop Joseph P. McFadden is the star of one of the clips.
The EITC Program allows the business community to invest directly into children’s educational futures. Approximately 4,000 businesses have participated in the program since its inception in 2001. If EITC funding is kept at $75 million for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, over 44,000 students will benefit from k-12 EITC scholarships, 6,000 from pre-k scholarships and hundreds of innovative educational programs will continue to enhance student education in our public schools.
The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference Scholarship Foundation is one of the many scholarship foundations that support Catholic education through EITC.
Founded in 1991, the REACH Alliance is the Commonwealth’s leading grassroots coalition seeking to educate the public on the benefits that school choice can bring to Pennsylvania’s children. The REACH Alliance represents individuals, business, religious, civic, taxpayer and non-profit organizations committed to educational achievement through choice. For more information, please visit www.paschoolchoice.org.
