The Children’s Scholarship Fund aims to maximize educational opportunity at all income levels by offering tuition assistance for needy families and promoting a diverse and competitive educational environment.
Reason Children’s Scholarship Fund
Nearly 40,000 children benefit from four-year scholarships across the United States as part of the Children’s Scholarship Fund’s mission to open the doors of educational opportunity to families. By helping these children attend over 7,000 private schools, the Fund demonstrates its special concern for those who lack meaningful educational opportunities. These children are enjoying the education desired by their families due to the generosity of our donors and the effort of 35 local scholarship organizations across America that work with the families and schools at the community level.
The response from families seeking the freedom to choose their children’s education was staggering. The parents of nearly 1.25 million eligible children from over 20,000 communities applied. In Charlotte alone over 6,700 eligible children applied for the scholarships as of February 2000 and every day we are receiving additional calls from parents looking for educational opportunities for their children.
These eligible families were required to demonstrate their financial need as measured by standards similar to the Federal school lunch program, which takes into account family size. Children eligible for a scholarship also had to be entering grades K-8 in the fall of 1999. The Fund focuses on elementary education because the earlier a child receives sound schooling, the better. Scholarships are awarded to all eligible children in a family to attend the school or schools of their choice.
Leadership from Within
To maximize the effectiveness of our mission, the Children’s Scholarship Fund felt it imperative to incorporate leaders in the education field. Comprising top educators from around the nation, the Teacher’s Advisory Board (TAB) of the Children’s Scholarship Fund, provides advice on a variety of educational issues. The TAB is comprised of current and former teachers, principals, and school administrators with experience in primary and secondary education in government, parochial, and private schools. The TAB counsels and works closely with us in rethinking the way this country funds and delivers education. The TAB provides us with an opportunity to hear the voices of educators and translate their voices into action. The members of the TAB in conjunction with the Fund and other educators have crafted the following Statement of Principles. To sign on to these principles, log on to www.teachersvoice.org.
Statement of Principles
We Believe:
Children are the reason for a system of education, and that system’s needs must never take precedence over the needs of children;
Parents and guardians, not government, have primary responsibility for and authority over their children’s education;
Teaching is a profession and good teachers deserve recognition and compensation based on their performance;
Government currently controls the vast majority of schools in this country; our system of education would be improved by a multitude of providers as opposed to a government monopoly;
A market-based education system will expand educational options for families, employment opportunities for teachers, and will reward entrepreneurship;
Like all other American success stories, American education should use a system in which the best new approaches to teaching and learning can emerge from the marketplace of ideas.