Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that she will opt New York into the new federal scholarship tax credit program, making her the second Democratic governor to do so since the administration published formal regulations for the program.<\/p>\n
Hochul\u2019s decision bucks intense opposition from teachers\u2019 unions, but has won her support from the Jewish community, which has been urging governors to opt in. She had previously said that she was inclined to support the program but was waiting to see if the regulations contained any poison pill provisions.<\/p>\n
Given New York\u2019s substantial Jewish population, her decision to join the program will be one of the most consequential for the Jewish community. It could prompt action by other Democratic governors as well. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis had been the only Democrat \u2014 until Hochul\u2019s decision \u2014 to opt into the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been clear from the start that New York would participate in the federal scholarship tax credit program if, and only if, all schools and students, including those in our public schools, could benefit,\u201d Hochul said in her Friday statement. \u201cAfter a careful review of the federal regulations, we believe this program has the potential to bring millions of additional dollars to New York students and families without taking a single dollar from public schools or our state or local budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that she would not \u201cleave money on the table when it could help our kids\u201d and that she has been \u201cdirectly engaging with business leaders, who have committed to use this program to support public school students and their academic needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program will allow taxpayers to deduct up to $1,700 from their federal taxes through donations to scholarship granting organizations. Some Jewish community groups are supporting scholarship organizations to help students attend Jewish schools, but the scholarships can also help support public school students.<\/p>\n
Hochul insisted that her \u201ccommitment to public education has not changed, and it never will.\u201d Teachers\u2019 unions have insisted that the program amounts to a federal private school voucher program and will sap funding from public education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank Governor Hochul for putting New York kids first,\u201d Teach NYS, the New York branch of the Teach Coalition, said in a statement. \u201cThis is a historic moment for New York students and a testament to the power of collective advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group thanked the UJA-Federation of New York, Agudath Israel of America and various other groups, including the Catholic community, that have been advocates for the program.<\/p>\n
Yeruchim Silber, the director of New York government relations for Agudath Israel of America, said it was a \u201ctremendous day for education in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision opens the door to millions of dollars in additional educational resources and opportunities for students in public and nonpublic schools alike, without taking a dollar away from public education,\u201d Silber continued. \u201c[Agudath Israel] is deeply grateful to the Governor and her team for recognizing the importance of this opportunity and ensuring that New York\u2019s children and families will be able to benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew condemned Hochul and vowed to work to roll back the policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiving up local control of public education to the federal government through the Trump administration\u2019s private school voucher scheme is a failure of leadership. Gov. Hochul will bear the responsibility, but our students, educators, and families will bear the price,\u201d Mulgrew said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that she will opt New York into the new federal scholarship tax credit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-369510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}