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The following suggestions provide a rough outline of the basic considerations and tasks one must take on in launching a private scholarship program. They are broken out into ten elements for purely presentational purposes, and no one element can really be considered, either conceptually or chronologically, outside the scope of the other nine. Neither should they be taken as a comprehensive list of what to expect - they merely offer guideposts and a point of departure for the one of the most gratifying and worthwhile roads one can travel in search of education reform and opportunity for our children.
Define your mission and your goals so that the motivation and purpose of your program is clear and specific. The first aspect to be determined should be location: what city or county area will your scholarships serve. For example, the mission of the program in San Antonio states: "The purpose of the CEO Foundation is to assist in equalizing educational opportunities for Bexar County elementary school students by offering low-income families an educational option normally denied them because of cost." The more you can demonstrate a compelling need for educational choice in a particular community, the more potential impact you will have on participating schools and families, and the community at large.
Obviously, the linchpin of a scholarship program is money -- for scholarships, and for operations. Programs have started up with as little as ten scholarships. Others have been launched with over a one and a half million dollars, distributing 900 scholarships in the first year. Money will play a large part in defining the scope - and perhaps the location - of your program.
To chart the program's course, you will probably want to assemble a board of directors consisting of donors, community leaders and reform experts. Your vehicle for operations will be a non-profit foundation, for which you must file for 501(c)(3) status. Depending on the scale of the program, it will most likely take more than just part-time attention, and you should include a full-time administrator in your budget to handle the day to day operations. To keep fundraising a priority, it should be the explicit task of a board member, perhaps one of the key donors, or a community person who wants to be involved.
Once you have initial funding, and the "steering committee" in place, you need to begin defining the exact scope of your program. How many scholarships will you award, and how long will your commitment be to each child? How will you determine families' economic qualifications? Will you provide scholarships for just elementary school children, or high school students too? What will be your scholarship cap amount; will it be more for high schoolers? Will you provide assistance with other expenses? Will you take children who are already enrolled in private schools? Will you award scholarships on a first-come, first-serve basis, or through a lottery? Will siblings receive preference? These and other standard issues have all been tackled before by the twenty-plus programs already operating. Some are handled the same way across-the-board; some are tailored to specific circumstances or goals of an individual program. Use the experience of those who have gone before to help you best fine tune your own program.
Find out what educational offerings are already available in your community. How do the public schools stack up, and what are their enrollment demands? What private schools exist, what are their tuition levels, and what space availability do they have? Are there sound "schools in waiting" that might open their doors with the support of private scholarship students? What is the attitude in the community toward the education system? Are there those who share your belief in reform? Are there key civic and community groups whose support you should engage?
Plan your time frame for announcing the program, distributing and accepting applications, and allocating scholarships so that interested families have plenty of time and notice to take advantage of private scholarships for the coming school semester or year. You want to fairly and fully publicize the applications process, even while keeping in mind that you will in all likelihood elicit a response from families completely out of proportion to your ability to offer them a scholarship. You want to inform eligible parents of this opportunity, but high profile press is probably not necessary or helpful at this point.
The very nature of this program and its participants makes its administration a very hands-on undertaking. Because low-income parents are often by necessity highly mobile, even notifying parents of a scholarship award may be difficult. You will need to create application and program forms, establish a grant payment schedule with each participating school, maintain contact with both participants and wait-listed families so that scholarships can be distributed as effectively and efficiently as possible, and keep on top of each step in the process as the school year progresses. Computer programs and forms have already been designed, and are being ever improved, to help you in this process.
Particularly as your program becomes an established element of the local education dynamic, through duration and expansion, you will want to keep the community at-large properly informed about the opportunities you are providing for their children. Be aware that not everyone will rush to praise you. There may be some who view the program as a threat to the current structure. Your best response is to explain that every community has very different kinds of needs, and not all schools are well-suited to all children. You are providing a choice - an option. Given the defensive stance many public schools are assuming in the light of declining test scores and increasing violence, your program may become the target of negative propaganda and smear campaigns. From the outset you will want to make overtures to the press, community and education leaders in a spirit of openness and goodwill. You may also want to consider asking a local PR firm to contribute their time and energy to assist you. Gaining official program endorsement or sponsorship by a local media outlet can go a long way toward building a positive and credible community profile.
Given sufficient resources, you may want to include a research and evaluation component in your program to track both family satisfaction and student achievement of participants. You might consider engaging in a partnership with an independent research organization or university who has the capacity to conduct a balanced and relevant study of the program. A longitudinal study demonstrates objective results and can help you "sell" your program.
Speaking of fundraising - we mention money twice because, frankly, most of the other eight points depend on just how much of it you have. Your initial funding may be in the form of one or several large "seed" grants based on a good idea. But subsequent funds will pivot on the actual success of your operations. Throughout the cycle of applications, responses, and school payments, fundraising should be your one constant. Groups like the Arkansas-based CEO AMERICA offer matching grants, as well as assistance in tracking down foundations that expressly fund this type of program.
These 10 points provide you with an overview of what to expect in launching and operating a private scholarship program. However, to help you through the truly nitty-gritty technical details, consult the resource directory enclosed. These people want to and do help. Once you commit to the serious undertaking of starting a program for your community, you may want to draw on the expertise, as well as the invaluable experience of all those who have paved the way for and contributed to today's burgeoning choice scholarship movement.
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