The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, welcomes President Donald Trump’s call for federal policy to support school choice.

In his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, the president called for Congress to pass legislation that will enable families to send their students to non-public schools, including religious schools, of their choice.

For years, the Orthodox Union has advocated for programs that empower parents to have greater choice in determining the best schools for their children’s needs. Across the country, 17 states have tax credit scholarship programs.

In Florida, the state highlighted by the experience of the president’s guest, Miss Denisha Merriweather, the Orthodox Jewish community and its leaders have been at the forefront of working to support and expand a state tax credit scholarship program. The Florida program has delivered $14 million this year alone to help 2,405 students attend Jewish schools. A total of 32 Jewish schools participate in the program, which offers tax breaks to corporations for donating to nonprofits.

Mark Bane, president of the Orthodox Union, stated:
“The Orthodox Union greatly appreciates President Trump promoting school choice in his first address to Congress. Indeed, we agree with the president that ‘education is the civil rights issue of our time.’”

Nathan Diament, executive director for public policy at the Orthodox Union, stated:
“The Orthodox Union welcomes President Trump’s commitment to school choice. We believe there are several ways in which parental empowerment should be pursued to achieve educational opportunity, in the tax code and elsewhere, and we look forward to working with the administration on this priority issue for our community and American society at large.”