Your tax dollars at work
PENNSYLVANIA TAXPAYERS have underwritten nearly $1.4 million in contributions to the Second Mile, the disgraced charity founded by convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky where testimony showed he groomed some of the boys he later molested.
The taxpayer-subsidized donations — which support the Second Mile's summer camp and an annual Leadership Institute — come through a controversial scholarship program called the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, or EITC, that may be dramatically expanded as lawmakers in Harrisburg look to pass a new state budget this weekend.
Despite the uproar over Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach who was convicted last week on 45 of 48 charges that he molested 10 boys, the Second Mile continues to receive the state-backed donations — $122,861 in the current fiscal year, according to records.
Officials with the state Department of Community and Economic Development said that the State College-based charity could soon lose its status as an approved Educational Improvement Organization — not because of Sandusky but because its assets may be sold to an outfit based in Texas.
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