Agudath Israel of America applauds the inclusion of game-changing federal school choice legislation in the budget reconciliation bill passed this morning. This legislation will help millions of children across the country including those wishing to attend yeshivas and other nonpublic schools.
Following a model already operating successfully in more than twenty states, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) will provide $5 billion in K-12 scholarships per year. It does this by allowing a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for donors who contribute to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGO). These SGOs would then provide scholarships for a range of educational expenses, including private school tuition
“Agudath Israel applauds the US House for including game-changing federal school choice legislation in the reconciliation bill,” said Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel’s National Director of Government Affairs. “We look forward to working with the Senate to ensure that the “biggest and most beautiful” scholarship tax credit proposal possible is included in the final budget reconciliation package.”
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I suppose a little financial help is nice, but hardly a game-changer. Drilling into the details, the tution vouchers are capped at $5 billion. Ten percent of the allocation is divided equally among 50 states. The rest is allotted based on the number of 2-17 year-olds in that state in relation to the nation overall. So, the allottment for NJ would come to around $110 million. As there are around 160,000 students enrolled in private schools in NJ, that comes to $688 per child. I suppose a little money helps, but not really that big of a deal in the scheme of things.