Low-achieving Pennsylvania schools failing to tell parents about school choice funds

Schools are failing and help’s available, but few know about it.

That’s apparently what’s happening in Pennsylvania to tens of thousands of students trapped in low-achieving schools.

Schools in the Keystone state that score in the bottom 15% on annual math and reading tests are classified as low-achieving. Of 382 such schools across the state, 255 have had that designation for the last six years, according to the Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg think-tank. 

Students in low-achieving schools are automatically eligible to apply for the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) to help them attend private school – but many schools are failing in their duty to inform parents of the school’s low-achieving status, or are making it difficult for them to find out. 

“Schools have three weeks from being notified by the state in February to notify parents publicly on their website or by a letter that their child is attending a low-achieving public school,” Rachel Langan, Commonwealth’s senior education policy analyst, told The Lion. 

“We’re finding schools aren’t doing this, so parents don’t even know that their child is eligible for an OSTC. They don’t know what it is, they don’t know how to get it, and the school districts that are letting parents know, it’s buried three levels down in their website.” 

Philadelphia, which has 136 low-achieving schools, or 41% of its total, is one example. 

Langan gives the steps parents would need to take to determine if their child qualifies for a scholarship: 

“From their main home page, parents must navigate to the Academics header; then click on Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program, then click on Find an overview of the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program here, which takes parents to the state website. From there, parents must figure out on their own that their child attends a low-achieving public school (many more clicks) and must review the state guidelines for applying.” 

Coatesville Area School District outside Philadelphia is a worse example.  

Five of its 10 schools are on the list, but it has failed to notify parents either by letter or on the district’s website. When Langan asked the district to document how it is informing parents, she received this response, which she shared with The Lion, in a letter dated last week:

“After conducting a good faith search, it was determined that the district does not have documentation of such notification to parents of our low-achieving schools, nor notification regarding the OSTC scholarship program, via our district website. Our administration is looking into this requirement and is taking steps to ensure that this information is posted to our website going forward.” 

The district’s motto is “Rich in Diversity, Committed to Excellence,” and it claims “significant progress in the areas of student achievement, school climate, facilities and finance” was made between 2020 and 2023. But scores have actually slipped, as a fifth school made low-achievement status on the most recent tests, up from four the year before. 

“We have 250,000 students attending low-achieving public schools,” Langan says of Pennsylvania. They “automatically qualify for an OSTC scholarship to leave your public school and go to a private school. Those same students in the low-achieving public schools would be eligible for Lifeline Scholarships.” 

Extending a Lifeline 

First proposed in 2022, an additional program called Lifeline Scholarships would have given students in underperforming schools more options and more funds: The average OSTC grant is about $2,000, much less than most private school tuitions, but Lifeline Scholarships would have granted $5,000 to K-8 students, $10,000 to high schoolers and $15,000 to special education students regardless of grade level. 

Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigned on school choice in 2022 and even included $100 million for the Lifeline program in the state’s proposed budget in 2023. But he later reversed course and vetoed the funds following resistance from House Democrats. 

Shapiro and the Legislature did expand the state’s current scholarship programs by $150 million this year. Those programs serve about 100,000 students across the commonwealth, Langan said, although there’s a waiting list of more than 60,000 applicants. 

Most scholarship recipients are from low- and moderate-income families, Commonwealth’s research shows, dispelling a myth that school choice helps primarily wealthy families that can already afford private school. 

Pennsylvania swung red in the 2024 election, picking Trump and giving statewide offices such as treasurer and attorney general to Republicans. Democrats maintained their one-seat majority in the state House, although Republicans still control the Senate. 

Andrew Lewis, Commonwealth’s president and CEO, says now is the time for Shapiro to make good on his claim that “every child of God deserves a quality education.” 

“The 2024 elections delivered a clear mandate for school choice,” Lewis said in a statement to The Lion. “Statewide, candidates backing school choice won decisively. Republicans maintained control of the state Senate with a strong record of leading on school choice, while Democrats nearly lost their fragile 102-101 majority in the House. 

“Lawmakers supporting school choice have a clear mandate from voters. It’s time for Shapiro to deliver on his campaign promise to enact Lifeline Scholarships.” 

Langan responded to critics who say school choice takes money from public schools. 

“Public education gets a huge influx of (taxpayer) dollars every year, and schools that are low achieving get even more money to try to help them turn things around,” she says. “But if your school’s been on the list for six years in a row, clearly the cash infusion is not improving things.  

“Six years is a kid’s entire high school career, or their entire elementary school career,” she adds. “We view (Lifeline Scholarships) as a way to help kids now” and put parents “in control of the decision making, rather than having their child forced to go to a school that’s been low achieving for years on end.”