The Jewish Orthodox Union is launching a multimillion-dollar advocacy campaign to increase government funding for Jewish-only day schools in New York. The organization will be adding staff to the 10 full-timers already working on the issue and launching a multi-year campaign, according to its executive vice president, Allen Fagin. He also said the O.U. will retain “one of the leading political strategists in New York” to guide the effort. “We all recognize that the real solution to the tuition crisis lies in using our political power and our advocacy efforts to increase state and local government funding for yeshivot and day schools,” Fagin said Saturday. While U.S. courts generally forbid government funding for religious education, Jewish schools access hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding per year, ranging from reimbursement for the cost of mandatory attendance-taking to funding for technology and special-needs education. In November, voters in New York state passed a schools bond act that may provide up to $38 million in reimbursements to Jewish day schools and yeshivas for educational technology equipment and facilities, the construction and renovation of pre-kindergarten facilities and the installation of high-tech security features in school buildings. The O.U. was among several Jewish groups – mostly Orthodox, but including UJA-Federation of New York – that lobbied in favor of the bill. Agudath Israel of America, which represents the haredi Orthodox Jewish community, also has been a longtime advocate of increased government funding for schools. New York state has about 151,000 Jewish-only day school and yeshiva students — about 60 percent of the nation’s total, according to an Avi Chai study published in October. Tuition fees at some day schools run in excess of $30,000 per year. Read more: jta.org/2014/12/30/news-opinion/united-states/o-u-boosting-effort-to-bring-govt-funding-into-jewish-schools#ixzz3NbFzBz3u
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 19:34:46 +0000
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