The Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) has hailed as “a big win for families” the $9 million Maryland lawmakers have budgeted for the state’s BOOST (Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today) Scholarship program.
Originally, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore proposed slashing funding for the BOOST program by 20 percent, earmarking $8 million for the program instead of $10 million. His budget package also included language that would have phased out the program over the next few years.
The Maryland General Assembly on March 31 agreed to fund the program at $9 million – more than Gov. Moore’s proposal, but $1 million less than last year’s allocation – and to eliminate language to phase out the program.
“During a dramatic few days, the $62 billion state budget agreement was paused, while the House and Senate worked out differences over this important program that empowers low-income families to place their children in a non-public school,” the MCC said in an email update.
“To provide context, Maryland will put an extra $900 million into funding the state’s public schools, for a total of nearly $8.8 billion for next school year,” the MCC update noted.
Since 2016, Maryland families with limited incomes could access the scholarships through the BOOST Scholarship Program. Since the program was started, nearly 20,000 BOOST Scholarships have been awarded to low-income students, allowing parents to choose the nonpublic school that best fits their children’s needs.
For this 2022-23 school year, 3,248 students are receiving BOOST Scholarships in 21 of Maryland’s 24 counties and the city of Baltimore. All of them are from low-income households, with the average annual household income of all recipients around $36,000. Minority families received 57 percent of the scholarships. Of the BOOST scholarship recipients, 32 percent are Black students and 15 percent are Latino students.
“BOOST Scholarships have been funded for next year at $9 million, with no phase out, so new families may apply for the fall,” said Garrett O’Day, deputy director of the Maryland Catholic Conference. “In addition, $2.5 million was put in the state budget for nursing and school security at BOOST-participating schools.”
O’Day noted that Maryland State Senate President Bill Ferguson (District 46 – Baltimore City) was instrumental in ensuring BOOST was funded, along with the members of the Maryland Senate. “We are grateful for their support,” he said.
As the budget was being debated, Sen. Ferguson told reporters, “We believe that all young people deserve all the opportunities to maximize their potential … I’ve seen families and young people really have the incredible benefits.”
After the budget vote, Sen Ferguson said BOOST is an opportunity “to invest in institutions and most importantly into parents and to children so that they have the opportunity and the advantage to be able to maximize their potential in a different environment should that be their choice.”
State Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey (District 36 – Caroline, Cecil, Kent & Queen Anne's Counties) issued a statement after the budget was approved saying the program provides “options for parents to choose the best educational environment that meets their children’s learning needs... The BOOST program assists those who may not be able to afford non-public schools an opportunity to get the best education possible.”
In addition to lawmakers, O’Day said “members of the Maryland BOOST Scholarship Coalition and of the Catholic Advocacy Network have advocated hard for this program, so we also want to thank them.”
“The thousands of emails and calls they made in support of BOOST, along with students who lobbied their elected officials during Nonpublic School Advocacy Day, made a big difference,” he said.
The 2023 Nonpublic School Advocacy Day was held March 2 in Annapolis. About 300 students and 50 principals, teachers and parents from 27 Catholic, other Christian and Jewish schools across Maryland assembled in Lawyers Mall near the State House to lobby the Maryland General Assembly on behalf of the BOOST program.
(Mark Zimmermann contributed to this article.)
