Aid for private school students can cut companies' Pa. taxes
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Businesses in Pennsylvania have a choice to either send their tax dollars to the state or use the money to fund private school education. But time is running out if they want to use the latter option this year.
The deadline for businesses to submit forms to participate in the Pennsylvania Education Improvement Tax Credit is Thursday.
Hundreds of corporations and small businesses that pay Pennsylvania corporate income tax make contributions each year to scholarship organizations and educational improvement organizations approved by the state. Pennsylvania will not release the names of companies participating in the program.
It is a way for businesses to help Pennsylvania's private school education system by mailing donations to the school of their choice and then claiming the contributions against their state taxes.
The Scholastic Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students attending Catholic schools pre-K through 12th grade, has been the No. 1 beneficiary of the EITC funds in Allegheny County in recent years. The fund has collected $7.6 million since 2008.
"I'm right now sitting in front of a pile of requests for tuition aid from parents," said Ron Bowes, assistant superintendent for public policy and development for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, which administers the fund. "I listen to these very sad stories of parents who believe Catholic school is the only form of education they want for their children."
Mr. Bowes said typically the fund offers about 6,000 scholarships a year.
"The Scholastic Opportunity Scholarship Fund, which comes from the EITC program, has been a godsend for us to be able to help parents, many of whom are low-income or have faced horrible tragedies in their lives," he said.
First Published June 24, 2011 12:00 am
