Advocacy Effort Has Jewish Schools Reaping Hundreds of Millions in Government Money
Source: JTA
Tax credit programs are among the growing number of ways that private Jewish day schools and yeshivas nationwide are corralling hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars annually. The money is helping to defray operating costs, provide teacher training, assist students with tuition bills and enhance educational offerings.
A decade ago, few Jewish schools were aggressive about pursuing federal and state funding. But as day school tuition rates have climbed, outpacing inflation and the ability of recession-weary parents to pay, schools have become much more effective not only at accessing government money but in lobbying state government for more.
The haredi Orthodox Agudath Israel of America long has taken the lead in lobbying for government aid for Jewish schools. Two years ago it was joined by the Orthodox Union, which began hiring political directors in a half-dozen states to organize Jewish schools and lobby legislators.
In New York, the state with the largest day school population, Agudath Israel and the O.U. have been joined in their lobbying efforts by an unusual coalition that includes UJA, the Sephardic Community Federation, the Jewish Education Project and Catholic groups.
Underlying the new advocacy effort is a shift in attitude among some mainstream Jewish organizations. Jewish federations, which once opposed government funding for parochial schools, are now trying to secure government support for them. Both the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the American Jewish Committee are reconsidering their long-held opposition to such funding.
Read the article at JTA.