By Rita McInerney

Eleven Catholic schools in the five-county metropolitan Atlanta area are among schools participating in a new, privately funded effort to give low-income parents educational choice for their children.

The program, Children's Education Foundation, will be launched Monday, Aug. 10 at 11 a.m. with a press conference at the Carver Homes Community Center in southwest Atlanta.

The foundation has already received a $1 million grant from an anonymous donor, according to Matthew J. Glavin, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, which created the new program after it "became quite clear that major reform is needed in educational choice."

"Low-income Georgians do not have an opportunity for quality education, Glavin said. "In Georgia, middle and upper income people have educational choice, the poor do not."

Glavin said the plan is to challenge area businesses and individuals to "adopt" children and guarantee them schooling in non-public elementary schools for four years. The scholarships will be available to children living in the five-county metropolitan Atlanta area of Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton and Gwinnett, who are eligible for free or reduced cost lunches under federal income rules.

For each child accepted in the program, the foundation will provide a voucher equal to one-half the tuition of the participating school, up to a maximum of $3,000 per year. Parents are responsible for the remainder of the tuition, although some schools may offer additional financial aid.

"It's important that parents make an investment as well," Glavin said.

He said the children's Educational Foundation wants to help between 100 and 150 children in its first year. Ultimately, he said, they hope to raise up to $10 million for the program.

Sister Roberta Schmidt, CSJ, secretary for education of the archdiocese, hopes "as many of our families as possible" take advantage of the aid offered by the new foundation. Scholarship aid for needy families is a "clear and urgent need in our society."

The foundation will give parents the opportunity to send their children to a school of their choice," she said.

Others among the 23 schools participating include Marist School for seventh and eighth grades, several Christian academies in the five-county area, several Jewish schools and non-denominational private schools. Other schools may join this list, Glavin said.

The target is children in public schools, Glavin said, who would like to go to non-public schools, but whose parents are unable to afford such schooling. Children already enrolled in non-public schools are also eligible. "They shouldn't be penalized because the parents are already sacrificing," Glavin said.

There can be more than one child in a family receiving the scholarship aid, he said. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for families to give their children quality education.

Money will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis and those receiving vouchers can transfer to the school of their choice either during the school year or at the beginning of the new school year.

Agreeing to serve on the board of trustees which will have full operating control of foundation activities, are Louise Watley, chairman of the city-wide Advisory Council on Public Housing, who is chairperson; James Karcher, of Forest Park, father of three children attending St. John the evangelist School in Hapeville, and Patricia Moran, a single parent whose son, 11, will attend St. John the Evangelist School in September.

Fourth trustee named to date is Ms. Fañia Isaza, an activist for the Hispanic community. When complete, the board of trustees will have nine members.

Glavin says it was critical the foundation be controlled by people most affected by quality education, parents who would meet the eligibility requirements for scholarships.

A longtime activist for Atlanta's inner city, Mrs. Watley feels the crisis in the schools is particularly threatening to the poor and disadvantaged. She said she is pleased to be involved with people who have the same "serious concerns" she holds for the need to provide low-income families with educational options.

She has two grown children and six grandchildren from 11 to 18.

Karcher said the main concern of the organizing group was to make the scholarship program "fair and equitable to everyone interested." He said the foundation will make applications available all around the city. He promised that once applications are completed by parents and the schools they select, they will be numbered in the order received at the foundation headquarters.

"We're not big on bureaucracy," Karcher said. "The aim is to be 100 percent efficient on the money, and keep it open and easy."

Mrs. Moran is also pleased to be "a part of making sure that it's not run as a bureaucracy, that all the money will get to the children." She emphasized that "we're trying to do everything we can to make it fair. There is no place on the application for race or nationality."

Glenn Delk, parishioner at Christ the King, is serving as treasurer of the foundation. The law firm of King and Spalding has agreed to provide pro bono legal services. The Georgia Public Policy Foundation will provide administrative services. One hundred percent of all funds donated will be used for scholarships.

There will also be an academic advisory board, Glavin said, including educators from Emory, Morehouse, the University of Georgia and Kennesaw College.

Glavin described the parent Georgia Public Policy Foundation as a research and education organization. "We are a think tank, independent, and the only one in Georgia," he said of the one-year-old foundation. He called it a lab for new ideas with a goal of looking at the major issues facing the state. It is based, he said on the principles of free enterprise, a limited government role, and concern for individual liberty.

The goal, Glavin said, is "that down the road the state legislature would see the wisdom of school choice and enact a law to let the parents choose." If the lawmakers do this the foundation would dissolve, he added.

Glavin, who has been in Atlanta a little more than a year, formerly served as president of the Hannibal Hamlin Institute for Economic Policy Studies in Augusta, ME.

His two sons are students at Our Lady of the Assumption School in Atlanta.

Applications for Children's Education Foundation scholarships can be obtained by calling the CEF Hot Line 770-455-6116 from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. until Aug. 28. After that date, normal business hours will apply.