Be a Dream Maker! HB 5101 will help empower low-income families and give their children access to expanded educational opportunities. And we need your help!
You have three ways to take action!
The Finance Committee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 6 starting at 10:00 am:
1) Send an email to your legislator asking them to vote YES! It only takes one step to let them know you support Opportunity Scholarships.
2) Submit written testimony: https://www.cga.ct.gov/aspx/CGATestimonySub/CGAtestimonysubmission.aspx?comm_code=FIN
3) Register to testify in-person or over Zoom: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AI_KGkh9QUCgeFGbKcp4lg#/registration
To understand just how eager Connecticut’s families are for the opportunities these scholarships provide, let’s look at what happened when the Connecticut Center for Educational Excellence (CTCEE), the first state-wide scholarship granting organization, opened its doors last March:
In three months, CTCEE received applications from over 900 low-income families in nearly 80 municipalities across the state.
Students in 20 other states (including our neighbors in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania) benefit from tax-credit scholarships. Learn about programs in other states.
Wealthy families can access educational opportunities of their choice and benefit from tax incentives when they invest in their children’s education. Tax-credit scholarships extend this benefit to low-income families. Tax-credit scholarships allow taxpayers to receive full or partial tax credits when they donate to nonprofits that provide K-12 school scholarships. Eligible taxpayers can include both individuals and businesses. In some states, scholarship-giving nonprofits also provide innovation grants to public schools and/or transportation assistance to students choosing alternative public schools.
Why is this important in Connecticut?
Connecticut has the second worst reading and the fifth worst math gap between low-income and non-low-income fourth graders in the country.
The state also has the third worst math and the fourteenth worst reading gap between low-income and non-low-income eighth graders in the United States.
Connecticut’s low-income children are being left behind in failing public schools — and many of their families are desperate for alternatives. A tax-credit scholarship program would offer educational opportunity to more than 150,000 of CT’s children, who — with families below 250% of the Federal Poverty line — lack the resources to escape failing schools.
To find out more on this topic and other legislation currently before the General Assembly, please visit our Take Action page.