Friday, May 17, 2002 in Dayton Daily News
By Scott Elliott
DAYTON – Parents Advancing Choice in Education could begin offering private school scholarships to low-income families in suburban Montgomery County communities as early as this fall.
T.J. Wallace, program director, said the group will use a challenge grant from the Children’s Scholarship Fund for up to 500 scholarships for students in suburban school districts. But there’s a catch – each community must raise money for the scholarships and the fund will match the local money dollar-for-dollar. Wallace said PACE helped Lima launch a scholarship program after community leaders there organized and raised money to start the program. He said the process would be similar for Dayton suburbs – each community must find leaders to organize fund-raising efforts.
PACE was begun in 1997 with backing from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based education reform group run by Dayton native Chester Finn.
Executives from some of the city’s most visible companies – including banks, corporations and investment firms – supported the effort financially. It now offers about 900 scholarships for private schools to families that demonstrate a financial need.
The group won a $1.5 million grant in 1998 from the Children’s Scholarship Fund, founded by Wal-Mart Stores director John Walton and others, which expanded the program, but it still depends heavily on individual donations.
PACE was the first such private scholarship program in Ohio. Similar groups have followed in Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and Lima. Cleveland has a publicly funded voucher program that serves the same function. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide the constitutionality of that program this summer.
Depending on family income, PACE will pay up to $1,875 toward the education of a student in elementary or middle school and up to $2,400 for high school students in Dayton. The average scholarship is $1,348.
For the first time, PACE is accepting new applicants for scholarships next year in Dayton.
Program Manager Daria Dillard Stone said PACE scholarships for students already in the program will be guaranteed through 2005 and the group’s goal is to maintain the scholarships until students graduate or leave private schooling.
PACE plans to extend scholarships to siblings of those in the program.
Contact Scott Elliott at 225-2485 or e-mail him at scott_elliott@coxohio.com