Etta Hansberry did not want to pull her kids from St. Thomas Aquinas School two years ago, but she had no choice, she said.
At the time, she had just left work on a disability and could no longer afford tuition on her fixed income. This year, however, her three children are re-enrolled at the parish school at 18th and Morris streets.
Hansberry’s children have received partial scholarships through a new state program, called the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which gives tax breaks to businesses that make donations to scholarship organizations. The mother said she would not have been able to afford the tuition bills without the assistance.
"I don’t want to keep taking [the kids] in and out," said Hansberry, of the 1300 block of South 22nd Street. "I’m trying my best in every kind of way to keep them in."
On Friday, officials from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia held a press conference at St. Thomas Aquinas to kick off the first year of EITC. The Rev. Arthur Taraborelli, the church’s pastor, called it an "innovative program" that allows parents to have a choice in their children’s education. Sixty-two students received scholarships this year.
"Our families here have greatly benefited from the EITC," the pastor said. "The awards given to St. Thomas Aquinas add up to almost $30,000."
J. William Mills 3d, president of PNC Financial Services Group in Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey and chairperson of the Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools, also was on hand.
BLOCS is one of 113 scholarship organizations statewide participating in EITC. It has collected $1.2 million in the past year and, in July, awarded 2,000 scholarships to children attending Archdiocesan schools. The scholarships were based on a family’s income and ranged from $250 to $1,000.
"EITC holds the potential for dramatically changing the impact of the educational environment and helping families across Southeastern Pennsylvania put their children in schools that they choose," said Mills.
