New York State Gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Spitzer said yesterday he favors funneling more state cash to private schools. Spitzer, speaking to Orthodox Jews at a Brooklyn yeshiva, said it is unjust that private schools educate 15% of the state’s students but get only 1% of the education budget.
“We will work on that,” promised Spitzer, a graduate of the prestigious and private Horace Mann High School in the Bronx.
The Democratic front-runner does not support vouchers – public funds that can be used to help pay tuition at private schools, his spokeswoman Christine Anderson said.
“He believes that measures such as the Child Tax Credit, which was enacted with his support last year, can provide relief for parents who choose to send their children to private school,” she said.
The child tax credit gives parents up to $330 for each child between the ages of 4 and 17. The credit can be used to help offset private school tuition or paid tutoring programs.
It was Spitzer’s opponent, Republican John Faso, who first sponsored the child tax credit legislation in 2001, when he was minority leader of the state Assembly.
“If elected, Eliot will explore the feasibility of expanding such programs,” Anderson said.
Spitzer also said his top priority is making public schools more accountable and securing more funding for them.
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7 Responses
I would be shocked if he actually did anything about it. He’s all talk, unless it’s good for him, like going after Merrill Lynch. He’ll never cross the unions, especially with Shelly Silver (a frum Jew) in power till he dies.
Even if passed, it won’t help. The mosdos will simply charge full tuition. The parents will end up paying the same amount.
Maybe that’s why Assemblyman Hikind said he wanted to “prevent” Elliot Spitzer to the audience, rather than “present” him. Was it a Freudian slip?
To those that were there, they know what I’m referring to.
he’ll win anyway so why not chear he we have notthing to lose.
i know every penny counts but seriously, $330/child is a gelechter when talking about schar limud!
Kishke wrote:
Even if passed, it won’t help. The mosdos will simply charge full tuition. The parents will end up paying the same amount.
First of all, maybe it won’t help you but it will definitely help the mosdos to who we owe so much hakaros hatov to.
Secondly, the yeshivas would likely come around less trying to raise “extras” (dinner, chinese auction, building fund) and we would thereby save also.
Yerushalmi yid: You are a more optimistic person than I. I don’t think we’ll save a dime.