Originally published in the Jewish Press.
In Judaism, we are accustomed to counting down (or up) toward a deadline: the 49 days of the Omer leading to Shavuot and the Asseret Yemai Teshuvah leading to Yom Kippur, to name two. Right now, we’re counting down to another deadline that could have a significant impact for Jewish day school parents and all non-public school parents in New York: the end of the legislative session in Albany on June 17.
A historic Education Tax Credit bill is pending, and our legislators will decide this month whether to assist New York’s non-public school families with real financial support.
Anyone connected to Jewish education knows about the challenge of day school and yeshiva tuition. With tuition often in the tens of thousands per child, families with even just one child enrolled in Jewish day school struggle to make ends meet. And our families, many of whom have three, four, or more children, believe in the value of Jewish education and a Jewish school environment for all of their children.