Tag: Apogee Scholarship

House Bill 939

Georgia House Bill 939 will keep the cap on Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship program at $100 million. House Bill 217 (March 2018) made a cap increase from $58 million to $100 million. However, the bill has the cap returning to $58 million by 2029.

We realize this is not an immediate concern, but we also realize how much this scholarship benefits many of our families, and want to keep it as an option for our younger students who may still be enrolled at that time, as well as future students.

The $58 million cap was first exceeded in 2016 (2015 pledge year), which had the approved pledged amounts diminished to keep the totals under the cap. At that time, the approval rate was 91% of what was pledged. During the 2017 and 2018 cycle, the approval rates were 42% and 55%, respectively.

Last year, 2019, we saw not only a marked increase in pledges (42%) over the previous year, with the cap increase, it generated 146% more scholarship money for our students, many of whom would not be able to attend without this assistance.

The chart below shows how amazing our families are, the increase in pledging support as well as fulfilling their commitment. In each instance where the yellow bar (fulfillment) does not meet the red bar (approved amount), there was an unexpected financial situation that reduced the amount they were able to contribute, which is entirely understandable.

As we are embarking on 15 years of helping students reach their full reading potential (you can see our RESULTS), our ultimate goal is to have no child unable to attend because of his/her family’s financial situation. This scholarship, as well as our fundraising events, are essential for that endeavor. The graph below clearly shows the negative impact the $58 million cap had, where red & yellow were considerably below the blue (pledged amount) for 2017 & 2018.

PLEASE REACH OUT to your Representative and share this information.

Also, the 2020 cap has not been met! You can still help!

Click HERE for MORE INFORMATION and HERE to PLEDGE

#UntilEveryoneCanRead #1in5

THANK YOU!

We absolutely have the best families and community.

On May 13, we posted an end of year fundraising appeal because we had so much generosity this year that we were so close to the $100,000 mark (which we did not anticipate) that we thought we’d try to actually break that mark!

Well, it happened, and on May 22 we posted how we had not only met the $100,000 mark, we made it to $102,450.65. We were beyond ecstatic, as that is the most we have raised in a year, ever.

Then we posted about the Apogee cap not being met, and combined with a few other donations, we are currently at $108,011.65, and for the first time ever, school fundraising broke the 25% mark, at $27,802.53!

Where it all came from.

Your gifts make a huge difference in the academic experiences of our students and help us further our dyslexia reading programs. Tuition only supports 80% percent of the annual operating budget, and contributions from all members of The Brookwood Christian Community: parents, grandparents, alumni, past families, faculty & staff, foundations, community partners, and friends; bridge the gap to help us deliver the unique learning experiences our students deserve.

Again, thanks to ALL of you!

We DID IT!

We are beyond overwhelmed with the support from our families and community! We had an amazing year, we asked to help push us over the $100,000 mark, and you delivered!

Thanks so much to all of you, we have raised $102,450.65 this year! By far our best fundraising year to date.

Your gifts make a huge difference in the academic experiences of each student and help us further our dyslexia reading programs. Tuition only supports 80% percent of the annual operating budget, and contributions from all members of The Brookwood Christian Community: parents, grandparents, alumni, past families, faculty & staff, foundations, community partners, and friends; bridge the gap to help us deliver the unique learning experiences our students deserve.

This shows the sources of our fundraising, and we could not have done this without the help of all of our families, donors, sponsors, and community partners.

Again, we thank each and every one of you for your help.

Still Time for APOGEE!

Thanks to the cap increase for 2019 to $100 million, it appears there is still time to redirect a portion of your state taxes to scholarships for deserving students through APOGEE for the Georgia State Tax Credit Scholarship as the cap has not yet been met!

There’s no telling how long this may last, so don’t delay if interested. You can find more information HERE.

To apply: https://www.apogeebase.com/donate

 

HB 217 Passed – APOGEE Cap increased!

We just received this email from APOGEE!!

Please take a moment to thank your representatives as well as those listed below.  More details on the scholarship can be found here.

“We have VERY exciting news to share!  Assuming Governor Deal signs the bill (which we fully expect), the Tax credit cap will be increased from $58 million to $100 million for the next 10 years starting in 2019.  After the 10 year mark, the cap would be reduced back to $58 million.
There will be an assessment of the program and its effectiveness in saving the state money and providing opportunities to families at the 5 year mark. With the expectation that the results will be in our favor, we could possibly expect an even more favorable result legislatively at that point.
The bill also includes some moderate fee reductions for SSO’s and improves the SSO reporting process.
We would like to take a moment to thank Representative John Carson. Without Rep Carson, the tax credit cap expansion bill would never have come to fruition.  Rep Carson expended a great deal of time, energy, and political capital to get this bill across the finish line in a format that was favorable to all of us in the program.  There will thousands of additional children who will directly benefit from the work done to accomplish this monumental task.
If you would like to personally thank Rep. Carson for his tremendous work on the expansion of the tax credit program, he can be reached at 
Another key player in the expansion of the program was Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, who supported the larger cap increase to take place immediately rather than the proposed escalator.  Casey Cagle’s role in the Senate was vital to the success of the bill.  
Words of appreciation can be sent to casey.cagle@senate.ga.gov.  
We are extremely excited for the long overdue expansion to the program and for the tremendous impact this expansion will have on providing educational opportunities for Georgia families.
We are thankful for your response to our legislative alert.  It is always refreshing to see our legislative body react favorably to the support of a bill we have all been working towards for such a long time.”