Scholarship
fund gives low-income families high
hopes -
08/22/07 By Larry Perl
Like thousands of children from low-income families in
Baltimore, Dolly Shettle, 9, is heading back to school Monday, Aug. 27.
Unlike most, however, Dolly, a third-grader, isn't going to a public
school. She has attended a church-based school, St. Pius X in Towson,
since first grade.
Dolly, 9, is being raised by her grandmother, Catherine Maggitti, 58, of
Govans, who said she lives on a $622-a-month disability payment and could
not afford the Catholic school's tuition of $4,100 without financial help.
And help is exactly what 500 children in kindergarten through eighth
grade, including Dolly, are getting thanks to the Children's Scholarship
Fund Baltimore, based in south Charles Village. The fund bestows partial
scholarships of up to $2,000 per student per year for kindergarten through
eighth grade, based on family income and other factors. Its mission, as
stated in program literature and by officials, is to provide privately
funded tuition assistance so low-income families can send their children
to nonpublic schools of their choice, rather than the families' assigned
public schools. Read
more...
CSF Baltimore
Mentioned in Baltimore Sun Article and Letter to Editor
On April 13, 2006, CSF Baltimore was a main topic of Dan Rodricks’ column
in the Baltimore Sun:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.rodricks13apr13,0,3994362.column?page=1&coll=bal-home-columnists
In “Listen up Oprah: There are other ways to help city kids,” Mr. Rodricks
suggests to Oprah Winfrey that in order to help “Baltimore children …
being deprived of a good education,” she should “write a check” to CSF
Baltimore.
This article was published just five days after CSF Baltimore board
chairman Howard Baetjer’s letter to the editor of the Sun was published:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/letters/bal-ed.le.schoolspat08apr08,1,864972.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
Mr. Baetjer argues that instead of having either city-level or state-level
bureaucrats and politicians deciding where the money to pay for schooling
goes, children’s parents should decide. (Mr. Baetjer’s mention of CSF
Baltimore was cut from the published version of the article, but CSF
Baltimore was identified in the by-line.)
