NATE BENEFIELD JOINS DAWN LIVE! - NATE SPEAKS ON THE NEW CAMPAIGN FROM THE COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION PUSHING TO HELP PA STUDENTS AND MOVE AWAY FROM FAILING SCHOOLS... 

Commonwealth Foundation Launches Billboards Spotlighting Need for Lifeline Scholarships
Campaign urges Pennsylvanian parents to help rescue kids from failing schools.

Harrisburg, Pa., April 1, 2024 — The Commonwealth Foundation today launched several digital billboards across Philadelphia promoting the Lifeline Scholarship Program that would allow students to escape Pennsylvania’s lowest-performing schools. Kicking off an ambitious awareness campaign, the ads urge parents to visit LifelineScholarships.com to explore the potential of the program’s proposed Educational Opportunity Accounts (EOAs) for their kids.

The three digital billboards will run for the next 12 weeks at major locations along I-76, I-676, and the Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Multiple other billboards have slated launches in the Pittsburgh, Wilkes Barre/Scranton, and Harrisburg areas.

"Every child deserves access to an excellent education," said Erik Telford, the senior vice president of public affairs at the Commonwealth Foundation. "Lifeline Scholarships empower families to do just that by allowing education funds to follow the student. Parents get to choose the schools that best meet their kids' needs."

Lifeline Scholarships, proposed by the state legislature last year, would establish EOAs for students trapped in schools ranked in the bottom 15 percent of the state’s educational institutions. In these failing schools, fewer than 10 percent of students test proficient in math, and just 25 percent reach proficiency in English.

"Too many kids are currently trapped in failing schools. Lifeline Scholarships would provide parents $10,000 to send their child to a better and safer school,” Telford stated. "We want to make families aware of the transformational impact of Lifeline Scholarships so that when they become available, parents can take advantage of the new opportunity to secure their children’s future."

Funded separately from existing education formulas, Lifeline Scholarships would not impact public school budgets. Though Gov. Josh Shapiro vetoed the legislation in August 2023, the latest polling reveals a strong majority of Pennsylvania voters (61 percent) believe the governor should enact Lifeline Scholarships.

Visit LifelineScholarships.com to join the growing coalition demanding real choice and educational freedom in Pennsylvania.

Nathan (Nate) Benefield is the Senior Vice President at the Commonwealth Foundation.
An Ohio native, Nate holds an undergraduate degree in political science and economics and a master’s degree in public service management from DePaul University in Chicago. He also completed his doctoral studies (ABD) in political science at Loyola University, also in Chicago.

Nate joined the Commonwealth Foundation in 2005. Now as senior vice president, he provides strategic leadership as well as operational oversight spanning policy analysis, government relations, marketing, and communications.

Nate has researched and written extensively on public policy issues including the state budget, public sector labor reform, government spending and taxes, liquor privatization, education, and economic development. Under Nate’s policy leadership, the Commonwealth Foundation’s work on public sector pension law helped drive the bipartisan pension reform of 2017, heralded by the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post as an example for other states to follow.

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