{"id":147523,"date":"2026-02-10T19:10:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147523"},"modified":"2026-02-10T19:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:10:54","slug":"allentown-based-grace-montessori-school-receives-68-7k-through-the-educational-improvement-tax-credit-eitc-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147523","title":{"rendered":"Allentown-Based Grace Montessori School Receives $68.7K Through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The funds will support the school\u2019s Closing the Achievement Gap scholarship program.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Allentown, Pa. (February 10, 2026) <\/strong>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gracemontessori.com\/\">Grace Montessori School (GMS)<\/a>, a nonprofit school and childcare center serving children ages 15 months to 12 years, received $68,680 in <a href=\"https:\/\/dced.pa.gov\/programs\/educational-improvement-tax-credit-program-eitc\/\">Educational<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/dced.pa.gov\/programs\/educational-improvement-tax-credit-program-eitc\/\">Improvement Tax Credit (EITC)<\/a> funds slated for the 2025-2026 school year. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthcharitable.org\/\">Commonwealth<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthcharitable.org\/\">Charitable Management<\/a> provided $23,000, made possible through a $13,000 contribution from People&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psbt.com\/\">Security Bank &amp; Trust<\/a> and a $10,000 contribution from <a href=\"https:\/\/coterra.com\/\">Coterra Energy<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgeedu.org\/\">Bridge<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgeedu.org\/\">Educational Foundation<\/a> provided $45,680, made possible through a $42,680<\/p>\n<p>contribution from <a href=\"https:\/\/postroadmgmt.com\/\">Post Road Management<\/a> and a $3,000 contribution from <a href=\"https:\/\/jlmannconsulting.com\/\">JL Mann Consulting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are honored to receive EITC support again this year and remain deeply committed to using these funds to expand access to high-quality Montessori education,\u201d said Radhika Hoshing, director of GMS. \u201cThis program opens doors for families who may not otherwise have access to our child-centered approach to education. With this continued investment, we\u2019re able to welcome more students into a learning environment that nurtures independence, celebrates curiosity and lays the foundation for lifelong growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The funds will support GMS\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/gracemontessori.org\/achievement\/\">Closing the Achievement Gap<\/a> program, which assists families with demonstrated need for financial aid to enroll their children in school, helping them achieve school readiness and a foundation for lifelong learning. GMS reserves 30% of its enrollment for children from economically disadvantaged families each year. The program is considered successful when 70% of children attending with scholarship assistance reach or exceed benchmarks in all areas of the Montessori curriculum.<\/p>\n<p>Since the initiative began, GMS has awarded over $2.5 million in financial assistance to more than 450 children from low-income families to attend the toddler, primary, kindergarten and elementary programs, helping to close this nationwide achievement gap one child at a time. During the 2024-2025 school year, 35 students received scholarships totaling $140,000.<\/p>\n<p>The EITC program provides educational tax credits for businesses in the Commonwealth to support public, private, and preschool programs. It was signed into law by Governor Tom Ridge in 2001 and has connected employers with students for over two decades, improving educational opportunities for low-income families.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone interested in supporting the GMS Closing the Achievement Gap program through EITC credits to be provided by your business or employer should contact the school at <a href=\"mailto:gschool@gracemontessori.org\">gschool@gracemontessori.org<\/a> or 610-435-4060.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>About Grace Montessori School<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Grace Montessori School was established in 1992. A not-for-profit school, and childcare center, we are members of the American Montessori Society, licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and registered as a private, non-public school with the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We strive to educate the whole child &#8211; cognitively, spiritually, and physically, and our classroom environments are large, inviting, and well-equipped with age-appropriate, developmentally designed materials. As an Episcopal School, we value nurturing the whole child by providing opportunities for Spiritual,<\/p>\n<p>Social-Emotional, and Cognitive development. We seek and welcome the cultural, socioeconomic, and religious differences of our families and weave them into the common life of our students and staff.<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nAmiee Goldy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The funds will support the school\u2019s Closing the Achievement Gap scholarship program. Allentown, Pa. (February 10, 2026) &#8211; Grace Montessori School (GMS), a nonprofit school and childcare center serving children &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147523\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Allentown-Based Grace Montessori School Receives $68.7K Through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/grace.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/122213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}