Gas South Donates $500,000 to Support Florida Schoolchildren

TAMPA, Fla. (October 21, 2022) – Gas South, one of the leading natural gas marketers in the Southeast, has contributed $500,000 to Step Up For Students, helping more than 65 Florida schoolchildren attend a K-12 school that best fits their learning needs.

This is the first year that Gas South has partnered with Step Up for Students, a nonprofit organization that helps manage the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. This income-based scholarship initiative is funded by corporations with tax-credited donations and allows parents and students to choose between a scholarship to support private school tuition and fees or one that assists with transportation costs to a different public school.

“Our core purpose is to Be A Fuel For Good, and one of the most important ways we achieve that is by positively impacting children in the communities we serve,” said Kevin Greiner, president and CEO of Gas South. “Education is a critical tool for our children to reach their full potential, and we are confident our partnership with Step Up For Students will provide life-changing opportunities for deserving schoolchildren across ‘The Sunshine State.’”

“We are grateful to have Gas South as a partner in our mission to help Florida students access the right education,” said Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up For Students. “With their support, even more schoolchildren will be able to access an education that fits their learning needs.”

In February 2019, the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, released the results of a study on the effectiveness of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, the nation’s largest private K-12 scholarship program. The study found that students on scholarship for four or more years were up to 99% more likely to attend a four-year college than their peers in public school and up to 45% more likely to earn bachelor’s degrees.

Since 2002, Step Up For Students has awarded more than one million Florida Tax Credit Scholarships. More than 2,000 private schools participate in the scholarship program statewide