Catholic Standard and Times - Making Catholic education affordable

‘All of a sudden, the impossible was possible’
Making Catholic education affordable

By CHRISTIE L. CHICOINE
CS&T Staff Writer

Stephen Dubenko, a senior at Roman Catholic High School for Boys, reports to his school in Center City Philadelphia every morning at the end of his commute by bus, the El and subway from the Holmesburg section of the city.

It is worth that to him because he loves his school.

Dubenko was among a group of individuals who testified Feb. 1 about the value of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program before the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee, which convened the hearing at Roman Catholic. [See page 12 for more information about the EITC program.]

Also testifying before the state committee was Donna Parkerson, who told the legislators that her 16-year-old twins Lauren and Sarah Rose are able to pursue their career dreams at Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls because of the tax credit program.

Parkerson said Lauren is able to make future plans to work in nursing, and Sarah Rose is moving toward a teaching career in the arts because of the “beacon of hope” that Little Flower could offer her family as result of EITC money.

Dubenko told the committee his loyalty belonged to Roman Catholic the first moment he walked into the school.

“The minute I walked in here, I [thought] this is what a high school should be,” he said. “I loved it.”

When he was an eighth-grader, his parents doubted they could afford to send him to a Catholic high school, he said, but he was able to enroll at Roman Catholic thanks to the EITC program.

Now he is president of the world affairs council, editor-in-chief of the yearbook and the TV news anchor for his school. He’s also a student ambassador and member of the student council. He plans to major in history in college and to obtain a master’s degree in international studies or diplomacy.

Another EITC recipient is Dubenko’s classmate, Edward Lieber, of Rockledge, who also has a long commute.

“Same thing that Steve said,” Lieber told the panel. “As soon as I walked into this school, I fell in love with it. My parents loved it so much that I also have two little brothers who go here — one’s a freshman, one’s a sophomore.”

Lieber is the president of the National Honor Society, a student ambassador, plays on the soccer team and is a member of the school’s Community Service Corps. He plans to major in secondary education in college, and to eventually return to Roman Catholic to teach.

For Parkerson, it is especially gratifying to see her daughters attend Little Flower.

A 1987 alumna, Parkerson [formerly Gorman] understood how much the school’s Catholic education contributed to her life, and wanted her children to have the same advantage.

“However, with our financial situation being what it was, I didn’t imagine I was ever going to be able to give them this opportunity,” she said. “I was devastated by this realization, and I felt like I was failing them on some level. I had no hope that anyone could help.”

Then, she said, the president of Little Flower called her, to offer what Parkerson described as “a beacon of hope.”

Parkerson learned her daughters qualified for financial aid — “and all of a sudden, the impossible was possible.”

Sarah Rose and Lauren Parkerson enrolled in Little Flower their freshman year, joined a school full of “talented, intelligent, independent, strongly compassionate young women,” Parkerson said.

“I have watched my girls grow into all of these qualities, and much more,” she said. “They have learned about commitment and responsibility, accountability, and the blessing of having an incredible sense of self-worth. They have grown into young women ... worthy of the pride I feel in them every single day.

“I have no doubt that much of that is due to the excellent education Little Flower has provided to them — an education that could have easily escaped them if it were not for these financial aid programs,” Parkerson added.

Now the twins are preparing for their SATs, and considering colleges. Parkerson’s youngest child, 13-year-old Alan, who is a seventh-grader, hopes to attend Northeast Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia.

“What better gift can we give to our children, and to our future — since these children … will become leaders of this nation — than to supply our kids with the financial aid that they deserve, to receive all the opportunities that a fine education can bring to them?” Parkerson said.

More than 33,000 Pennsylvania children are benefitting from EITC scholarships this school year, and more than 2,300 businesses have contributed in excess of $240 million to approved EITC organizations since the program began in 2001. Those figures were provided to the legislators during testimony by Andrew T. LeFevre, executive director of the REACH (Road to Educational Achievement through Choice) Alliance.

Families must meet eligibility guidelines to participate in the program. The average scholarship is for $1,000.

Deacon Alvin A. Clay of Immaculate Conception B.V.M. Parish in Jenkintown, a member of the executive committee of the archdiocesan BLOCS (Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools), testified about EITC on behalf of Auxiliary Bishop Joseph P. McFadden, who assists Cardinal Justin Rigali in overseeing the Secretariat for Catholic Education.

The father of seven children who have attended or are currently attending Catholic schools, Deacon Clay is a former member of the archdiocesan board of education and the former CEO of a company that, for the past several years, has contributed $100,000 a year to organizations that qualify for EITC.

Noting the impact a tuition increase can have on enrollment — “relatively small tuition increases are enough to put our schools out of reach for some people” — Deacon Clay said the EITC program “can be the difference as to whether a student attends the school or not. And ultimately, because of that, it could be the difference as to whether certain schools survive, because you need a certain enrollment for the school to survive.”

As a member of the executive committee of BLOCS, he said, “I’ve seen first-hand what the EITC has done … benefiting our most needy citizens.” BLOCS raises scholarship money and tuition assistance for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

Father Joseph W. Bongard, rector of Roman Catholic, said 40 to 50 percent of the school’s 960 students benefit from the EITC program.

Father Bongard also said it was appropriate that a hearing on educational support through business was held at Roman Catholic because the school was founded in 1890 by Thomas E. Cahill, a Philadelphia businessman who made his fortune selling ice in the summer and coal in the winter. Cahill could not obtain a high school education because he had to work to help support his family. In his will, he left money to found and build a Catholic high school for boys.

With the EITC program, “everybody wins,” Deacon Clay said of corporations, their employees, the local economy, taxpayers, parents and, most importantly, their children.

“I urge you to continue it.”

CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.