2024 Catholic Schools Week Supplement
Tax-credit scholarships now available for early childhood education programs
Katryn Kutan, director of early childhood education at
St. Lawrence School in Indianapolis, works with Nahomy Brigitte Sanchez, a student in the program. (Submitted photo)
By Sean Gallagher
For Kathryn Kutan, educational choice is not just near and dear to her heart. It’s personal.
When the state taxpayer-funded Choice Scholarships (commonly known as vouchers) were first made available in 2011, her son was in the eighth grade at St. Lawrence School in Indianapolis.
“He was able to attend a Catholic high school because of that voucher,” Kutan recalled with gratitude. “School choice is deep in my heart.”
As the director of St. Lawrence’s early childhood program, she is well acquainted with how educational choice has a positive effect on many families.
Kutan has been involved in educating 3- and 4-year-olds at St. Lawrence for more than 20 years.
“I’m seeing more and more of our children in early childhood who can afford to continue their education at St. Lawrence,” she said. “So, I get to see them grow up until eighth-grade graduation. I usually give them a gift and a last hug goodbye. It’s amazing.”
While Choice Scholarships are not available for pre-kindergarten programs, there are other state-funded supports for early childhood education.
Those were expanded last year by the Indiana General Assembly when it allowed scholarship granting organizations (SGOs) to award scholarships to families with 4-year-old students in pre-kindergarten programs.
The state encourages contributions to SGOs by offering a 50% tax credit on such donations, with an overall cap of $18.5 million on the tax credits.
The state legislature giving SGOs the ability to award scholarships for early childhood programs last spring was overshadowed by its expansion of the income guidelines for vouchers, making them now available to nearly all Hoosier families.
Kutan knew of the added support for early childhood education, though, and was grateful.
“It’s been a phenomenal year for early childhood education,” she said.
Sarah Watson previously was a colleague of Kutan at St. Lawrence, serving as the school’s principal. The two of them together worked to bolster St. Lawrence’s early childhood program.
Watson is now an assistant school superintendent for the archdiocese, focusing on elementary education. She sees the newly added support for pre-kindergarten programs as another pathway for families to be eligible for a voucher for their children’s further education.
“By allowing tax credit scholarships for the preschool-aged children of our archdiocese, we open the door for Catholic education to many more families,” Watson said. “Using these funds in preschool allows students to be eligible for Choice Scholarships as early as kindergarten, affording them an additional two years of Catholic education.”
Kutan knows well the positive impact that early childhood education can have. English is a new language for about half of the preschool students at St. Lawrence, with many of them speaking only Spanish. She added that there is a growing number of students of a Haitian background whose primary language is Creole.
“I had some children who started pre-school knowing no English that are now in the second or third grade who are further along than some of our kids who started in kindergarten or first grade,” Kutan said. “It proves how important early childhood education is in a quality program.”
Watson agreed.
“Early learning paves the way for a strong educational foundation for life,” she said. “Strong early learning foundations, which our Catholic schools provide, help children develop skills spiritually, physically, socially and emotionally. Thus, they are ready to begin learning their math facts and alphabet on day one of kindergarten.”
John Elcesser, executive director of the Indiana Non-Public Education Association, has long been an advocate for educational choice at the Indiana Statehouse and was on hand during last year’s General Assembly session to back allowing SGO scholarships for early childhood programs.
“Preschool costs can be challenging for some families, and since voucher funding is not available at that level, shifting the use of private donations through an SGO again seemed logical,” Elcesser said. “Some also believe that allowing funds to be used in preschool may encourage another sector of donors with a commitment to early childhood.”
Watson sees the availability of SGO preschool scholarships as one more way to support the overall mission of Catholic education.
“When our schools can help families pay for this education through tax credit scholarships, we are not only serving our students better,” she said, “we are meeting the mission of the school and the global Church.”
(Contact your local Catholic school to learn more about receiving a scholarship from a scholarship granting organization for a 4-year-old preschool program or about how to contribute to an SGO.) †
