State Tax Credit Programs on the Rise, Bring in Millions for Yeshivas

The past decade has seen a marked increase in the number of private Jewish day schools and yeshivas actively looking to tap into federal and state tax dollars for help, and as the number of institutions has risen, so too have the ways in which state lobbyists and organizational coalitions are approaching the matter.

JTA reports that there has also been a dramatic shift in policy as well, with many Jewish organizations who, a decade ago, strongly opposed the use of government funding for private schools, now actively joining the fray in the quest for available funding.

In states with large day school populations, like New York, unlikely coalitions have been formed as well.

Agudath Israel, which has a lengthy history of lobbying for funding dating back several decades, was recently joined by the Orthodox Union, the UJA-Federation of New York, the Sephardic Community Federation and the Jewish education Project in its lobbying efforts.

Rabbi Binyamin Krauss, who serves as principal at the SAR Academy in Riverdale, NY, said that going forward “government funding” will need to be a “major piece” if schools are going to continue to provide quality educations to their students.

4 Comments

  • give it to the people!

    Giving the money to the yeshivas keeps the power in their hands,stop giving any money to the schools give vouchers to the people, then let the schools compete with the other schools for the money, directly from the students.

    This is just a scam we should set up a coalition of parents and go after the money directly.

  • anonymouse

    all the more reason to hammer the parents for tuition like the government for taxws

  • Why noy, we pay taxes too

    Sounds nice. For those of us that pay taxes into the govt., including schools we do not send out children to, it is nice to see programs available that bring some of the funds back to us. As long as everything is above ground and no one is trying to claim extra children or anything like that.