My grandfather used to say the freest thing you can get in this world is an education. I didn’t understand what he meant when I was young. But I understand it now.
I can say the same for my 16-year-old granddaughter, Aziyah. Her father — my son — died in a tragic motorcycle accident when she was five years old. Following the funeral, Aziyah, who has always been studious, asked, “Who’s going to take me to school now?”
That’s who Aziyah is. She has always been a dedicated student. Honor roll since she could sit in a classroom. A 4.5 GPA. Second team All-Catholic in flag football. Voted most valuable player.
Colleges are flooding our mailbox with letters, and she hasn’t even started her senior year.
Aziyah is going to go far.
But when she was preparing to transition to high school, I was concerned. Before she moved in with me, Aziyah lived in West Philly, meaning she was going to attend West Philadelphia High School.
But she would not have succeeded there. I’m not saying that to be harsh. I’m saying it because I know Aziyah. She’s not confrontational. She puts her head down and works. And in environments like West Philly, they eat kids like that alive — and I couldn’t let that happen.
So, I put her in West Catholic High School. It wasn’t an easy decision. Tuition is no joke, and paying for it has proved challenging.
Mind you, I have a good job and earn a decent salary. But like everybody else these days, I am stretched thin financially. Anybody who’s paying attention to this economy — or paying for gas, groceries, and utilities — knows exactly what I’m talking about. After buying the bare necessities, there isn’t much left.
Fortunately, West Catholic gave me some good news. Aziyah qualified for a scholarship — made possible by Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program.
And I’m going to be honest with you: At first, I didn’t know anything about this program. But this news felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. If not for this scholarship, I would have taken a second job before I told Aziyah she had to leave West Catholic. That’s how much her education means to me. Thankfully, I didn’t have to make that choice.
But every day, families do make those hard choices. They’re forced to. If you don’t have connections or money, you’re stuck in a box. You’re forced to send your child to the neighborhood school, whether it’s right for them or not.
Many families weren’t as fortunate as we were. Last year, about 70,000 scholarship applications across Pennsylvania went unfulfilled. We are denying too many students who want to better themselves.
And it wasn’t because these kids were unqualified. The real reason is that state law caps these programs, so scholarship organizations and schools cannot raise the funds needed to provide scholarships to these kids.
Harrisburg hasn’t helped much, either. The Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to eliminate supplemental scholarships, limit student eligibility, and impose taxes and regulations on scholarship organizations. Ultimately, state lawmakers didn’t cut scholarships in the new state budget, but they didn’t increase them either, leaving the statewide scholarship shortage unaddressed.
Not only should we expand our current scholarship programs, but we should also look for new opportunities.
One such opportunity: the new federal tax-credit scholarship program. With this program, Pennsylvania kids — both public and private school students — could receive tax-credit scholarships of up to $1,700 for education expenses, such as tuition, tutoring, and supplies. If Gov. Josh Shapiro opts Pennsylvania into this program, Pennsylvania kids stand to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in new scholarships.
Scholarships like these have been a lifeline for families like mine, who work hard but still need a hand to get their kids into a better school. Education is something that should never be taken away from anybody — especially not from a student who is willing to work for it. If you can give a hard-working kid a chance, why wouldn’t you?
Pennsylvania students with the ambition to achieve great things deserve every possible resource — and we should do everything we can to give them everything they need.
Charisse Jefferson lives in South Philadelphia with her granddaughter, Aziyah.
