An Accountability Update

In addition to the progress in 2012—with five new programs enacted and six existing programs strengthened—the educational choice movement has seen a significant increase in accountability standards in private school choice programs across the country.

Among the programs that have seen new accountability standards:

• Louisiana’s Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program
• Among other requirements, a participating school that receives a low Scholarship Cohort Index score cannot enroll additional scholarship recipients for the next school year. Scholarship students attending a participating school labeled failing will have first priority admission to attend another participating school the following year. 
• Pennsylvania’s Educational Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit
• The new scholarship tax credit program for students attending Pennsylvania’s worst performing public schools requires additional reporting and transparency measures for Scholarship Organizations, including reporting the number of scholarships awarded to students from low-income families.
• Virginia’s Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits
• The scholarship tax credit program created in 2012 requires participating private schools to measure annually scholarship students’ progress in reading and math with a national, norm-referenced achievement test and report those results to the state.  Beginning in the program’s third year, those results will be published on the Department of Education’s website.

 Check out the Alliance for School Choice’s 2012 Private School Choice Accountability Update for more information on accountability standards in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG

School Choice Advocate the Key to Reform in the Keystone State

The American Federation for Children today congratulated Joe Watkins, a strong school choice advocate, on his appointment as chief financial recovery officer of the Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania.

 Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis made the appointment on Friday, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.

Watkins is chairman of Students First Pennsylvania, an advocacy group that has worked tirelessly to bring strong educational options to Keystone State families.  The group was integral in working with the state legislature and the governor to expand the highly-popular Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program and to create a new scholarship tax credit program for students stuck in the state’s worst-performing schools.

While Watkins will be leaving his position at Students First PA, in his new role, he will be able to provide greater educational opportunity to the nearly 4,500 students in the Chester Upland School District.

Under the Financial Recovery Legislation for Schools, which was enacted alongside the expansion of EITC and creation of the Educational Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit, the secretary of education could place the school district in financial recovery status.  As chief financial recovery officer, Watkins has the ability to close schools, cut staff, and transform public schools into charter schools.

Pennsylvania Update: The Educational Opportunity Scholarship Act

Earlier this week, AFC announced that more than 242,000 students may be eligible to participate in the new Educational Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program.  And now we are hearing more about the new scholarship tax credit program that would help students in the state’s worst performing public schools.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, which administers the new program, yesterday released guidelines for businesses that want to donate to approved opportunity scholarship organizations (OSOs).

Businesses authorized to do business in the Keystone state and who are subject to taxes can receive a 70 percent tax credit for contributions of up to $400,000 to approved OSOs.  If a business contributes for two years, it can receive a 90 percent tax credit.

If a tax credit application is approved, businesses have 60 days to donate its contribution to an OSO.

Applications for tax credits in fiscal year 2012-13 are due by August 8, 2012.

For more information, read the Business Guidelines for the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (PDF).

School Choice Now! will keep you updated on this new program as it prepares to serve students in the 2012-13 school year. 

- American Federation for Children | Alliance for School Choice, MSG