Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!
Serve Yahweh with gladness.
Come before His presence with singing.
Beautiful, welcoming harmonies poured out of classroom doors, accompanied us through the halls, and warmed our hearts on a cold winter day. Tears of joy flowed as we began our tour of Immanuel Christian School (ICS). ICS’s elementary school choir sang a hymn composed by their music teacher, Mr. Spanos. Its lyrics are from Psalm 100. Happy children singing joyful songs in the midst of bleakness forms the sort of memory that lingers.
ICS is nestled deep in coal country in Hazleton. It was the first school I visited when I began school choice advocacy work in 2018. Hazleton is home to some of the lowest income and most academically desperate citizens in the Commonwealth. It offers few economic opportunities and even fewer school options. Median household income in Hazleton is just $43,000 – 43% lower than the statewide median. The community is largely minority, with its Hispanic population at 63%.
The education situation in Hazleton is particularly dismal. Among primary schoolers, 86% fail to meet the state standard in math, and 65% are not proficient in reading. The nearest charter school is 30 miles away. Though Hazleton offers a smattering of religious private schools, few families can afford full tuition.
Yet Hazleton has hope. Hazleton has Immanuel Christian School — for now.
For more than 40 years, Immanuel Christian School has carried out its mission to serve the lowest-income families with the fewest educational options. ICS has truly been a lifeline (in many ways) for its students and their families, delivering a quality education and a fighting chance at breaking generational cycles of poverty and crime.
Sadly, ICS’s pursuit of its noble mission could soon come to an end.
In 2024, just ahead of Christmas break, ICS families received a shocking notice: the school was closing — effective immediately — due to financial insolvency. The lives of 160 students and 31 staff members turned upside down that sad day.
Families had days, not months, to find a new school in a town where options are scarce at even the best of times. In the weeks that followed, federal pandemic funds were allocated to keep the school’s doors open at least until the end of this school year. What happens next remains a question mark in the hearts and minds of ICS staff and students.
Lifeline Scholarships, a legislative proposal several years running, aims to fix this and would have saved ICS. Gov. Shapiro has repeatedly voiced support for the bill. But differences between the House and Senate on the measure have repeatedly derailed families’ hopes.
Lifeline would offer up to $5,000 for private school tuition and other expenses per eligible primary school student, $10,000 for high schoolers and $15,000 for students with special needs. That goes a long way in towns like Hazleton.
Seventeen states have enacted similar programs, and soon, more will join them. Since January, new school choice programs have passed in Tennessee, Idaho and Wyoming. New or expanded programs are likely on the horizon for Texas, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, as well.
Education savings account programs are the one-two punch that can knock out dismal test scores and lack of educational options. ESAs have provided a pathway for hundreds of thousands of students to achieve academic success.
These programs enable schools like ICS to continue serving communities where they are most desperately needed — communities like Hazleton. Take Florida, which has long embraced an increasingly robust school choice framework. Over the last 10 years, Florida shows a 40% increase in the number of available private schools.
School choice programs are immensely popular among Pennsylvania voters. Fresh statewide polling from Ragnar Research Partners shows an astounding 86% of Hispanic Pennsylvania voters favor school choice legislation that would prioritize low- to middle-income families.
With neighboring states like Ohio and West Virginia passing school choice programs, it remains to be seen whether the Commonwealth moves in the same direction.
Pennsylvania students and families are watching closely to see whether the legislature and Gov. Shapiro take action on these proposals this session.
Marc LeBlond is Director of State Advocacy at American Federation for Children. He lives in Williamsport with his wife and four school-age children.
