The Coalition of McKay Scholarship schools has been concerned with the disparity between the scholarship amounts for McKay students and other scholarship programs. 

   McKay students’ scholarships at the 251 levels and the 504 students are lower than scholarships for students on the new Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES).  We ran a comparison on several large counties and several small counties which show this disparity. (see attached chart)

    The Coalition of McKay Scholarship Schools has been working with legislators and other stakeholders to address this disparity in the funding formula.  For some students, especially in the 504 and 251 levels, it could make a difference of $2,000 in scholarship funding. 

    Unfortunately, for this year we have had interest in the change but no legislation has been crafted or is before the legislature.  That just means we have to work strategically between now and the next legislative session to gain support for this funding change and see legislation enacted next year. 

     After this legislative session, we will begin working on the issue for next year.  The Coalition will need parents’ support to make this happen.  We will be asking our member schools to lead the way to bringing this change to our legislators.