This Tuesday, POLITICO New York featured CSF in a piece by Keshia Clukey about the proposed education tax credit discussed at a joint budget hearing in Albany that day.
CSF President Darla M. Romfo testified at the hearing with a group including CSF families and alumni, school administrators, and Derrell Bradford, Executive Director of the New York Coalition for Achievement Now (NYCAN), and she is quoted throughout the piece:
On Tuesday NYCAN’s Bradford, parents of scholarship recipients and Darla Romfo, president and COO of the New York City-based Children’s Scholarship Fund, are hoping to change the rhetoric around the credit.
“This is not about the benefit to the donors. It’s about the kids,” said Romfo. CSF is the largest K-8 scholarship program in the state, supporting more than 8,400 children in the city. Through the fund, students on average are awarded $2,000 to go to any school of their choice, regardless of religious denomination.
“It doesn’t take money away from any existing kids. It’s a way to incentivize more kids to go to private schools, if that’s what the parents want them to do,” Romfo said. “There are a lot of kids sitting in failing school seats.”
Romfo said she’s confident that if this credit were available her organization could be able to give more than 20,000 children the opportunity to go to the school that’s best for them.
The New York State Catholic Conference also has come out in favor of the tax credit and submitted testimony for the education budget hearing.
“The main thing I want to drive home over and over and over again is that if you’re passionate about this, you should be passionate about the kid that it can help, and not passionate about the fact that somebody might get a tax credit,” Romfo said.
You can read the full article on POLITICO New York‘s website (subscription required).