Donations help scholarship fund to grow

ST. LOUIS -- Another 375 children in the city will get money to help them attend private school this fall, besides nearly 1,300 students already helped by the St. Louis School Choice Foundation.

The additional scholarships come from $1.5 million in new donations to be announced Wednesday. The money is the third sizable investment in the fund, backed by supporters of alternatives to public education.

Since 1999, the fund has collected more than $7.5 million to help low- and middle-income families pay for private school tuition. With each new round of donations, hundreds of parents have added their children's names to waiting lists. Organizers said they expect the same response this spring.

"I don't think we'll have a problem filling the slots," said Mary Wuller of the Today and Tomorrow Educational Foundation, which administers the scholarships locally.

In the past three years, the awards have helped nearly 900 children attend private school instead of public school. Others were already enrolled in private school and are using the scholarships toward tuition.

Similar to vouchers

In that sense, the program is a private version of public voucher programs, which allow parents to use government funds to pay private school tuition.

The awards pay up to $1,500 annually toward tuition for four years, though families with higher incomes receive less assistance.

The program is limited to children living in the city of St. Louis. More than 100 schools in the region have agreed to accept the scholarships.

The St. Louis program is an extension of the Children's Scholarship Fund, launched nationally in 1998 by Wall Street financier Theodore Forstmann and Wal-Mart heir John Walton. Each contributed $50 million.

Their donations came with a challenge to local donors. Retired St. Louis businessman Eugene Williams and his wife, Evie Williams, pitched in with $2.6 million two years ago and helped meet that challenge.

The same year, retired May Department Stores executive David Farrell and his wife, Betty Farrell, donated $1 million.

The two families together are donating $500,000 more this year to support the new scholarships.