Funded by appropriation, each student’s voucher is funded at the statewide average of the per-pupil expenditures by all local education agencies for the current school year, up to but not exceeding the amount of tuition at the private school. The program’s advisory board takes into account a student’s special needs when determining scholarship amounts and may fund these students with higher vouchers than the per-pupil average.

The Maryland legislature established the program as a budget item. It appropriated $6.58 million from the general fund to fund vouchers for students as well as awarded rollover funds for the 2019–20 school year.

Students are eligible if they live in families with incomes up to, but not exceeding, 100 percent of the federal free and reduced-price lunch program ($47,638 for a family of four in 2019–20). Renewing students who remain income-eligible are entitled to vouchers, provided funding is available.

The Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) Program provides vouchers for low-income students to attend eligible private schools of choice. Though this is a first step toward educational opportunity for Maryland students, the program has several important shortcomings. As a line-item appropriation, the program is subject to reenactment by the current legislature—meaning students are not guaranteed a voucher from year to year. Indeed, not only does the program’s very low funding cap limit student participation, but there was even a reduction in the base appropriation during the 2019 legislative session.

Additionally, the program requires the Maryland Department of Education to “compile and certify” a list of applicants and rank them by eligibility before sending to the BOOST advisory board. Though this was likely intended to provide the most aid to the most disadvantaged students, this policy creates unnecessary invasions of privacy and forces a ranking system for students already eligible for the program. This program also includes Maryland’s Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended, Title 20 Subtitle 6 of the State Governor Article, which requires private schools eligible for vouchers to not discriminate in student admissions, retention, expulsion, or otherwise based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. Though the program includes a protection for religious liberty, “Nothing herein shall require any school or institution to adopt any rule, regulation, or policy that conflicts with its religious or moral teachings,” the effect of this expanded layer of regulatory control is yet to be determined.

Legislators did take one step in the right direction in 2019 by eliminating the burdensome requirement that private schools of choice administer the state test. Instead, the schools may now select among a menu of nationally norm-referenced tests to administer.

• Income Limit: 100 percent x FRL
• Prior Year Public School Requirement: None
• Geographic Limit: Statewide
• Enrollment Cap: None
• Voucher Cap: 100% Statewide Average Per-Pupil Expenditure by Local Education Agencies
• Testing Mandates: National

School Requirements

• Have participated in Program R00A03.04 Aid to Non-Public Schools Program for Textbooks and Computer Hardware and Software
• Have at least one grade above kindergarten
• Administer national norm-referenced assessments to all students in English/language arts and mathematics in grades 3–8 and high school, and at least three times in science
• Comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as emended, Title 20 Subtitle 6 of the State Governor Article
• Agree not to discriminate in student admissions, retention, or expulsion on the basis of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.
  • If a non-public school fails to comply with these requirement, it shall reimburse all scholarship funds to the state

Fiscal 2017 Budget Bill § R00A03.05

No legal challenges have been filed against the program.