How to apply for scholarships to send your kids to private school

Families in Southern Illinois that can’t afford tuition will soon be able to apply for new scholarships to send their children to private K-12 schools in the next academic year.

The private school scholarship program — a first for Illinois — was created by the public school funding bill that was signed into law in August. The money will be doled out based on financial need, which supporters say gives families a choice they might not otherwise have when it comes to educating their children.

For the metro-east, the organization managing scholarship money and taking applications from families is Empower Illinois. It says on its website that there are 52 private schools in St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Clinton and Randolph counties where students could use the scholarship money.

Families can apply for the scholarships online starting Jan. 24, 2018, through empowerillinois.org. They can start that application process before their child is accepted to a private school, Empower Illinois states online.

According to the website, applying will take about 15-20 minutes. Families will need a copy of their federal tax return from 2016, proof that they live in Illinois from something like a utility bill or driver’s license, confirmation of their child’s age from a birth certificate, federal or state ID or passport, and, if available, a letter of acceptance or enrollment from the private school.

To qualify for the scholarships, a student’s family has to meet certain income guidelines.

For example, a student from a family of four with a household income last year between $45,510 and $73,800 would be eligible.

The lower the family’s income, the more money the student can receive. The largest amount most students will receive is $12,973, which is the average cost of educating a child in an Illinois public school, according to Empower Illinois.

Students who have disabilities can receive double that amount — up to $25,946. They have to be eligible to receive services under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Students whose first language isn’t English — known as English language learners — can receive up to $15,567, and students identified as gifted can receive up to $14,270.

The potential scholarship amounts for those students are larger because they have specific learning needs.

But Empower Illinois will give priority to the students whose families have the lowest incomes, like a family of four that made $45,510, when it starts picking scholarship winners. And those students’ scholarship amounts would be either the full tuition and fees of the private school or $12,973 — whichever is less.

For the family of four that made $73,800, the student’s scholarship amount would be half the cost of the tuition and fees of the private school.

Children who live in a school district with low test scores for certain groups of students or with graduation rates below 60 percent will also be given priority when Empower Illinois picks from applicants. In the five-county area, there are seven districts that fall into those categories, according to the Illinois State Board of Education, including:

▪  Alton District 11 in Madison County

▪  Cahokia District 187 in St. Clair County

▪  Coulterville District 1 in Randolph County

▪  East St. Louis District 189 in St. Clair County

▪  Granite City District 9 in Madison County

▪  Roxana District 1 in Madison County

▪  Sparta District 140 in Randolph County

Families will be notified if their child will receive a scholarship beginning in February. Empower Illinois will send the money directly to the private school where a scholarship winner is enrolled.

The private schools accepting students who receive scholarships will be responsible for a new cost; they will pay to administer a state assessment to measure scholarship winners’ performance in the 2019-20 school year.

Students who receive scholarships for the 2018-19 school year will have to reapply every year. They’ll get priority when scholarships are given out in future school years.

The scholarships are financed by private money. To encourage participation, the state offered $75 million in tax credits to the program’s donors. Each donor can get a 75 percent credit on a donation — $7,500 for a $10,000 contribution, for example.

This story was originally published December 26, 2017 at 10:44 AM with the headline "How to apply for scholarships to send your kids to private school."