Governor Andrew Cuomo spent Sunday advocating for a proposal that would give tax credits to parents struggling to pay tuition at private schools, including religious ones. He visited several churches and a Yeshiva in Midwood, Brooklyn to make his case.
"The state will give you a tax credit for a portion of the tuition you're paying," he told the enthusiastic crowd at Yeshivat Shaare Torah. Many of them held signs that read "Education Opportunity for all."
Cuomo tried to get the education tax credit proposal approved during the budget process but it failed. Now he's pushing legislators to vote on the proposal.
"If you don't put it on the floor and vote yes or no then that's a game you're playing and I would then just consider all of them against it," he said.
There are many proposals that failed to make it through the budget process. The education tax credit was one of them. It has been around for many years. When asked why he chose now to advocate more aggressively for it he said, "I thought it was going to pass last year and then... it wound up not passing," he said. "So this year I made more of an aggressive effort on it."
According to the governor's office, the $150 million tax credit would include $70 million dollars for families earning under $60,000 a year. They would be eligible for a tax credit of up to $500 per child. An estimated 82,000 families could benefit from it.
A portion of the proposal also creates an incentive for donating to private schools by providing tax credits to individuals or businesses who give to school scholarship funds. Families earning up to $300,000 a year would be eligible for scholarships.
The orthodox Jewish community has been advocating for a tax credit for a long time. At the Midwood, Brooklyn yeshiva, parent Eli Harari said that he pays more than $20,000 a year to send his five children to a religious schools. He said he believes families like his deserve a break.
"We pay taxes. That money goes for public schools," he said. "Why shouldn't there be money for private school? I mean children are children."
According to the governor's office, roughly 15 percent of students in the state attend a private school.
