Pursuant to Act 85 of 2012, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has published the list of low-achieving schools in which students, who live within the schools’ boundaries, may be eligible to apply for a scholarship through the EITC 2.0 Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program.

Last year Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law Act 85 of 2012 that gives low- and moderate-income students in low-achieving schools the option to obtain a scholarship to attend a participating public or private school. Under Act 85, PDE is required by law to notify school districts that have schools identified as low-achieving by Feb. 1.

Within 15 days of notification by the department, school districts are required to notify parents and post on its web site, a description of the opportunity scholarship tax credit program, as well as instructions on how families may apply.  

As required by the law, the list of schools contains the lowest-achieving 15% of elementary schools and the lowest-achieving 15% of secondary schools, based on combined math and reading scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment from the 2011-12 school year. Career and technology centers as well as charter schools are not included on the list.

PDE’s list of low-achieving schools contains 406 school buildings in 71 school districts across Pennsylvania. The scholarship program has the potential to impact more than 240,000 students. Additional information and sample parent notification letters are available on PDE’s web site by clicking here.

For the 2013-14 school year, students who live within the attendance boundaries of one of these schools may be eligible for a scholarship if their household’s annual income is no greater than $75,000, plus $12,000 for each dependent member of the household. The maximum scholarship award available to non-special education students is $8,500 and the maximum for a special education student is $15,000.

Source: PSBA Legislative Report, Feb. 7, 2013.