Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program

The Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program was created pursuant to Act 85 of 2012 (72 P.S. § 1701-G.1, et seq) and amended by Act 86 of 2016 (24 P.S. § 2001-B, et seq). This program enables eligible students, residing within the boundaries of low-achieving schools, to apply for a scholarship to attend a participating public or nonpublic school. 

Low-achieving schools are defined as public elementary and secondary schools (excluding brick-and-mortar and cyber charter schools, and area vocational-technical schools) within the Commonwealth that ranked in the lowest 15 percent of its designation (elementary or secondary) for the school year, based on the combined Mathematics/Algebra I and Reading/Literature scores from the most recent annual assessments (PASA, PSSA, and/or Keystone) administered.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) posts the list of low-achieving schools annually so that eligible students can apply for scholarships for the upcoming school year. Students who reside in an attendance zone of a school that was on a previous list of low performing schools but is not on the 2022-2023 school year list may also apply to a scholarship organization to continue receiving a scholarship.

The Roy A. Hunt Elementary School and Valley Junior/Senior High School in New Kensington-Arnold School District has been identified as a low-achieving school, based upon 2022-23 school year assessments.