Favorable
Committee: Appropriations
HB 0350
The Catholic Conference is the public policy representative of the three (arch)dioceses serving Maryland, which together encompass over one million Marylanders. Statewide, their parishes, schools, hospitals and numerous charities combine to form our state’s second largest social service provider network, behind only our state government.
The Maryland Catholic Conference offers this FAVORABLE WITH AMENDMENTS testimony of the Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) Scholarship Program.
We request that this committee simply adopt the language that was put for in Governor Moore’s Supplemental Budget No. 1, restoring the original program language and rejecting the “phase out” language, limiting the program only to current recipients.
We offer this testimony on behalf of the large number of low-income families attending Catholic schools statewide who receive BOOST scholarship assistance and the thousands more who would seek that assistance in the future. The BOOST Scholarship Program has provided expanded educational options for low-income Maryland K-12 students through the provision of scholarship assistance in the Maryland budget since 2016. One hundred percent of scholarship recipients are eligible for the Free and Reduced-Price Meal Program (FARMs). Scholarship recipients are certified as eligible through the State Department of Education (MSDE). The majority of student-recipients were minorities and had an average income of just over $43,500 for their entire household. Thousands of students were denied scholarships due to a shortfall in funding. Overall, based on going scholarship rates, parent applications represented $18 million in demand for the $9 million available for the program.
To date, BOOST has provided nearly 23,000 scholarships. Those students being educated in a nonpublic school has actually saved the public schools upwards of $375 million over that time. BOOST is helping to break the cycle of poverty for minority students whose parents choose a Catholic school using a BOOST Scholarship, as an average of 98% of students who graduate at a Maryland Catholic school go on to graduate and attend college. BOOST is also enhancing the education of students with disabilities, with double scholarship awards going to students with special needs.
In all, the BOOST Scholarship Program has helped to make Catholic schools an option for so many families. The majority of BOOST scholarships and scholarships dollars are awarded to students whose parents chose a Catholic school this year, many having transferred from a public school. The scholarship recipient demographic data cited above mirrors that of our school families in many Catholic schools, which welcome large numbers of low-income, immigrant and first-generation, minority, and non-Catholic students.
The BOOST Scholarship Program has acted as an integral supplemental source of assistance to low-income families, fostering a partnership between Catholic schools and the State of Maryland to fight the cycle of poverty. Our Catholic schools remain committed to working alongside the State of Maryland in providing options for low-income students. It is for these reasons, on behalf of the families empowered by BOOST scholarships to choose Catholic schools, that we urge the Maryland General Assembly to fully fund BOOST into the future for those families, in the FY2025 Operating Budget and beyond.
Amendment to R00A03.05 – Funding for Educational Organizations:
Amendment No. 1
Insert and adopt proposed language from Supplemental Budget No. 1