Adrienne Runnebaum is the Director of Tax Credits for the Catholic Education Foundation.
Think about your last trip to the grocery store. You’re standing in the cereal aisle and there are rows upon rows of choices. Perhaps you are looking for the healthiest brand or the most affordable selection. Now think about a much more significant choice - education. A parent is trying to find the schooling option that best fits the needs of their young son or daughter. But what if cost is an obstacle?
In January 2015, CEF became a registered Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) for the Kansas Tax Credit for Low-Income Student Scholarship program. This School Choice program has allowed CEF to expand its mission to serve families that are seeking a Catholic education but are facing significant financial barriers. (CEF has created a separate division to manage its participation in this new initiative.)
Thanks to the generosity of our eligible business donors (no individual donors can participate), we are pleased to share that we’ve had initial success with this program for the 2015-2016 school year. We have 99 students attending 13 of our Catholic schools. This represents all of our eligible students that applied to the program. 98% of these families are enrolled for the upcoming academic year. To date, we have 189 new student applicants on the waitlist for the 2016-2017 school year!
I recently had the opportunity to read through some of the thank you cards from students, parents and school principals that are currently benefiting from the Tax Credit Scholarship program. It was a very touching and humble moment. One mother spoke about how she was unable to finish high school herself but this scholarship will provide her son with a bright future. A 6th grade student shared his progress in the classroom and how the kids treated each other as children of God. A school principal described the joyous moment when a family receives the news of a scholarship. Other stories spoke of academic achievement, students developing a personal relationship with Jesus and a strong sense of community and service to others. It is evident that our Catholic schools continue to provide students with a quality, Christ-centered education that nurtures their God-given talents. While the families that we serve may have limited financial resources, they are sharing their time and talent to be active participants in their child’s educational experience.
Through this new initiative, CEF is making the dream and choice of a Catholic education a reality for additional families-one scholarship at a time!
To learn more about the Tax Credit Scholarship program, please visit our website. It’s important to note that our current CEF students cannot take advantage of this new opportunity and not all students will meet the eligibly criteria. Therefore, we will continue to rely on the generosity of our donors to serve all of our CEF families.
