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My name is Mary Lou Gamache and I am the principal of our school. I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes about an exciting way that you can help every child afford an education at our school.
There is a new GA state income tax program called GRACE Scholars, which allows GA taxpayers to redirect their state tax dollars to Catholic schools in general and to STS in particular.
This is a 100% dollar for dollar tax credit. What this means is that you can tell the state of GA that you want your state taxes used for tuition for a child at a Catholic school. Individuals, married couples and corporations can all apply for this tax credit!
The reason that I am so excited about this is obvious. I asked my mother how she and dad could afford to send 10 kids to Catholic school when I was growing up. She said “Because it was free”! Many of our STS families cannot afford our school. We do the best we can with the scholarship money you give to our church but it just isn’t enough to allow every Catholic child a Catholic education. Because this program allows for 50 m dollars per year to be redirected to Catholic tuition, we have the opportunity to make it available to all of our families, especially those in most need.
In order for STS to get a piece of the pie we need to act now! There is still money left in the GRACE scholars program for the 2009 tax year. The reason for this is that the program is so new, people don’t know about it yet. You can still donate to GRACE Scholars this year. For next year the earlier in the year we make our donations the more scholarships we will be able to offer. As the year goes on only those parishes that act fast and early in the year will be awarded this tax credit. This year, St. Vincent’s in Savannah received ½ M dollars in scholarships for their school by being the first to acts. There is no reason why we can’t do the same.
If you would like to take advantage of this for the year 2009 you must apply for the tax credit by November 1st.
If you would like to take advantage of this tax credit for the year 2010 you may apply anytime after January 1st but the sooner in the year you apply the better chance you will have of making your donation before the 50m cap is met for 2010.
I have information for you in the Narthex after Mass that outlines, step by step how to apply for this credit. I have printed out the forms you need to submit and included the address you will need to send everything to. The only thing I didn’t do is include the stamp.
Please help the children and families of our parish by using this tax credit. You have to pay state taxes anyway so why not redirect them to help our parish families. Thank you and God bless you!
Instructions on how to set up your taxes!
Click Here for Part 1
Click Here for Part 2
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