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Saturday, January 5, 2002
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Activists help organize private scholarships
By Josh Funk
The Wichita Eagle
A group of Wichita activists is close to offering its first scholarships for
low-income families to send their children to private schools. A group of
Wichita activists is close to offering its first scholarships for low-income
families to send their children to private schools.
This spring, Children First: CEO Kansas will announce at least 13 $1,500
scholarships for Sedgwick County students. It will start taking applications
in March or April, founder Cindy Duckett said.
Once the group obtained nonprofit tax status in August, it began soliciting
donations.
The group is trying to raise enough money to qualify to compete for a
matching grant that would allow 50 scholarships, Duckett said.
The scholarships are intended to pay part but not all of the cost of sending
a child to private school.
"That will never be a full scholarship," Duckett said. "We believe the
parent should contribute."
The group knows it won't be able to help all the children seeking
scholarships, but David Landwehr, one of the group's co-founders, said the
group had to start somewhere.
"If a person has money, they already have choice," Landwehr said, explaining
why the scholarships are for low-income students.
Of the 35 supporters listed on the CEO Kansas Web site, 12 have committed to
giving at least $1,600 for one complete scholarship. The extra $100 will go
to expenses. Donors are asked to make a three-year commitment.
Eventually scholarship programs like this one and possibly public vouchers
could force public school systems to become more efficient, Duckett said, if
the alternatives can provide viable competition.
To do that, there must be enough scholarships that districts feel the
financial impact of losing the state aid students bring, Duckett said.
"What we've seen is so much of the decision making (in school districts) is
based on money, and we are focused on kids," Duckett said.
The Kansas group is affiliated with CEO America, which promotes
school-choice programs and would provide the matching grant. CEO stands for
Creating Educational Opportunities.
"I think over time we all got frustrated with the system and decided
competition was the way to go," Duckett said of Kansas group's three
founders.
Duckett said she has been active in education since her oldest child, now a
college sophomore, was in kindergarten. She was part of a group that helped
establish the first magnet elementary schools in Wichita to emphasize basics
such as reading, writing and math.
Kim Potochnik was defeated in her 1997 run for school board, but through
that race she came to know Duckett.
Landwehr, whose wife, Brenda, is a state representative, has also been
involved with education issues in Wichita.
"I think one of the common links we have is we feel education is so
important, and the system needs change," David Landwehr said.
Much of the first year and a half of CEO Kansas' existence was devoted to
securing nonprofit tax status and promoting school choice, although no money
could be collected.
Wichita lawyer and former mayor Frank Ojile donated legal services to the
group after Duckett approached him a year ago.
"I thought it was a fantastic alternative to help provide students with
education," Ojile said.
To qualify for scholarships, students will have to meet income guidelines,
which are based on the federal eligibility guidelines for free and
reduced-price lunches.
Then scholarships will be awarded to cover a percentage of private school
tuition, either 25, 50 or 75 percent, depending on income.
If there are more qualified applicants than money available, the
scholarships will be awarded through a lottery.
The scholarships have no academic requirement and can be used at any Kansas
school that accepts tuition.
For more information, visit the national Web site, www.ceoamerica.org, or
the Kansas chapter site, http://home.kscable.com /ceokansas/CEOKansas.html.
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Reach Josh Funk at 268-6573 or jfunk@wichitaeagle.com.