While we continue to advocate with the General Assembly to expand funding for the popular BOOST scholarships (thank you to everyone who sent our BOOST action alert!), we also anticipate that the Maryland State Department of Education will open up the application process as early as this week. They have done this in prior years, even before the budget was set, so applications could be received and reviewed in time for parents to enroll their children in a school.

“Maryland families want and need more funds for BOOST,” said Maryland Catholic Conference Deputy Director Garrett O’Day, the lead BOOST advocate for the Conference. “It is a very small part of the overall budget, but one that has an incalculable impact on the lives of low-income children and families by empowering them with educational options they did not have before. BOOST is an important complement to the world-class education system Maryland is building, particularly for low-income and minority kids.”

BOOST recipients include children from 21 of 24 Maryland counties. The average household income for a BOOST family is under $36,000.