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Football season is here, but not just at Lincoln Financial Field. Friday night lights shine brightly on high school teams and crowds statewide. And let's not forget the other beloved fall sports: cross country, volleyball, soccer, softball, and golf.
But while kids stress about playing time or making it to state, parents on the sideline wrestle with an entirely different issue: the cost. An AP-Ipsos poll found that about two-thirds of parents with at least one kid playing sports spend up to $2,000 per year on equipment, fees, training, and travel. Some paid even more.
This pay-to-play reality can be cost-prohibitive for lower-income families. The same AP-Ipsos poll found that 41 percent of families reported quitting a sport because of the price tag. Another study found that household income is a significant deciding factor, with lower-income households demonstrating lower sport-participation rates.
Fortunately, a new opportunity may help these families struggling to afford youth sports.
Starting in 2027, the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, adopted by Congress last year, will give individuals who donate to scholarship-granting organizations a dollar-for-dollar credit up to $1,700. Students and families can use these scholarships to cover education-related expenses, such as tuition, tutoring, books, and -- yes -- sports.
Assuredly, this program won't cover everything. The scholarships can only go toward school-based activities, so club and recreational sports not sponsored by school districts likely won't qualify.
(To be fair, we won't know everything that qualifies until the federal government provides the final guidance for the program, which insiders expect to see sometime in the fall.)
The biggest caveat is whether these scholarships will be available in Pennsylvania. Before a state can benefit from the scholarship program, the governor must first opt the state in. So far, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has neither opted in nor indicated whether he plans to.
But Shapiro would have plenty of company on the sidelines. As of now, 30 states have opted in. Though Republican governors have championed this opportunity, several prominent Democrats have also lent their support. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was one of the first to opt in, calling the decision a "no-brainer." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who months ago said she intended to opt in after reviewing the final guidance, kept her promise and made it official last week.
These governors understand what's at stake here. About 53 million K-12 students nationwide -- most of whom attend public schools -- will qualify for the scholarship program, promising more than $24 billion in additional funding. Roughly 1.8 million Pennsylvania kids could be eligible for hundreds of millions of dollars in scholarships.
That's real money for real families facing real affordability issues. That means a public-school kid in Erie or Allentown is just as eligible as a private-school kid in Hershey or Philadelphia. This is far from a niche program designed for one segment of the student population; it's built to reach nine out of ten K-12 kids.
But if Shapiro doesn't opt in, those dollars will leave Pennsylvania. One estimate suggests that the commonwealth would forgo nearly $2 billion in additional resources for kids over the next three years.
It would be foolish to squander such an opportunity.
And we already know that tax-credit scholarships are in high demand in Pennsylvania. The commonwealth's two tax-credit scholarship programs -- which served as the model for the new federal program -- awarded more than 101,000 scholarships last year. But they also denied nearly 70,000 applications because of state-mandated caps.
Polling further demonstrates the need for more scholarships. A Commonwealth Foundation poll shows that seven out of ten Pennsylvanians want lawmakers not only to expand the state's existing tax-credit scholarship programs but also to opt into the federal program.
And thanks to Pennsylvania's own scholarship programs, the commonwealth is well prepared to handle the new federal program, too. The commonwealth is already home to a network of more than 200 scholarship-granting organizations, providing the necessary infrastructure that many states lack.
Pennsylvania kids shouldn't have to ride the bench and sit out this opportunity. They don't need Gov. Shapiro to be a spectator, watching passively from the stands; they need a coach to lead them to victory.
Put them in, coach. These kids are ready to play.
Rachel Langan is the senior education policy analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation