By Marcie Smith
People like to say that it takes a village to raise a child. But what this cliché leaves out is how hard it can be to find that village. A few years ago, I went, as my community calls it, “off the derech.” More specifically, I strayed from my spiritual path. I drifted from my village, leaving my four kids and me without much support. We eventually found subsidized housing in Harrisburg, where we live today. When I first looked for schooling for my oldest, I wasn’t pleased with our options. We live in the Steelton-Highspire school district, which isn’t well known for academic achievement. The district’s two schools both appear on the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) list of “low-achieving schools,” meaning they are in the bottom 15 percent of schools based on statewide testing. Steelton-Highspire isn’t the safest, either.
Last year, the district reported 23 arrests and dozens of incidents of fighting, assault, threats, theft, and drugs. And considering that the district is in financial recovery (meaning PDE has taken over the district’s finances until it regains solvency), I don’t see the district solving its issues in the near future. I wanted so much more for my children. I wanted them to have the same wonderful education I had as a young Jewish girl. I attended Silver Academy, Harrisburg’s only Jewish day school. Rabbi David Silver, a man I knew personally and deeply respected, founded the school with the mission of providing a quality, holistic education to every Jewish child—no matter their financial situation. I graduated from Silver in 1997, but my education has made me who I am today. I’m forever thankful not only for the knowledge and skills I received but also for the strong moral fiber that Silver instilled within me. Silver was my village as a child, providing me with a solid foundation to stand upon—even during the most trying of times. And I wanted my kids to experience the same. But as a single mom on a fixed income, private education didn’t seem to be in the cards. Regardless, we applied for enrollment and discovered that Silver offered significant financial assistance.
Also, even though the school was a 15-mile drive and I didn’t have a car, Silver partners with the school district to provide transportation. Little did I know that one program made all this possible: Pennsylvania’s Education Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (OSTC) programs. EITC and OSTC collect tax-deductible donations from businesses and individuals to finance scholarships for kids like mine—kids stuck in an underperforming school district and in need of a better educational alternative. Across Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands of students rely on EITC and other scholarship programs to access educational opportunities that would otherwise be closed off to them. Without EITC, these kids would not be where they are today. The same applies to my kids. All three oldest children attend the Silver Academy now. They’re thriving. They feel known. They feel supported. They feel safe being exactly who they are. As a parent, I can’t think of anything more reassuring than knowing your kids are in an environment that reinforces the values you’re teaching at home. Silver feels like home. If a student comes to class hungry, they feed the child. If a student shows up with a dirty shirt or pants that don’t fit, they help the kid find better clothes. We finally found our village. But not everybody is as fortunate. Sadly, there are not enough scholarships to go around. Last year, Pennsylvania denied and waitlisted nearly 70,000 scholarship applications. Program caps keep these scholarship programs from helping more kids find better schools. To make matters worse, lawmakers in Harrisburg seem eager to deny even more kids. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposed redirecting tax credits away from these scholarships toward other line items. Some even more ardent lawmakers even want EITC and OSTC to “go away and go away for good.” Some lawmakers are already preparing to stop another scholarship program: the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC) program.
This new program could bring $500 million in new scholarships for students. However, the governor has yet to commit to opting into the program—something which 29 other states have already done. Right now, families are demanding better schools, and some politicians have the gall to deny them that opportunity. Instead, they’d prefer students to remain trapped in a one-size-fits-all system that treats them like numbers, not students with unique personalities and educational needs. But this issue is more than just policy; it’s personal. It’s about watching my kids come home excited about what they learned that day. It’s about knowing their teachers understand them. It’s about giving them a foundation—both academically and morally—that will carry them into adulthood and help them become productive citizens.
