Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce that the New Jersey 2017 Fiscal Budget has been signed with some significant gains in Non Public School funding. Your assistance with this initiative throughout the year has been essential in establishing a higher profile for this issue among our elected officials- – especially those who are most directly involved in the budget process.

Teach NJS-OU’s leaders determined that ensuring the safety of our children at school would be the main focus of our advocacy for the state’s fiscal year 2017 budget. With the ever-increasing risk of terrorism, we wanted to ensure significant security funding for non-public school students. Recall that last year we advocated for, and received, state funding for security for the first time.

As a result of our collective and intense efforts, and despite a very difficult budget environment for NJ, non-public school children will receive $223 per student, the greatest non public school per-pupil funding in the New Jersey’s history. Teach NJS-OU and its partners achieved a number of victories this year, as demonstrated in New Jersey’s new fiscal year budget. Those include:

•  Overall state funding for non-public school students has increased by 20% since the inception of OU-Teach NJS.
• Non-public school security funding by the state has been established this year at $50 per student – double the allocation we achieved with our initial success last year.
• Technology funding has been increased to $26 per student, an increase of $6 over the governor’s proposed budget.
• Nursing funding has been increased to $90 per student, an increase of $5 over the governor’s proposed budget.

For all of our victories, we have many people and partners to thank – starting with Assembly Budget Chairman Gary Schaer who spearheaded this effort, Governor Chris Christie, Senate
President Stephen Sweeney, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, and Senate Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo and Senator James Beach.

We also express our deep appreciation to the Teach NJS-OU executive committee: Dr. Mort Fridman, Dr. Eric Fremed, Cheryl Rosenberg, Jonathan Gellis and Yehuda Blinder.

Additionally, we thank our participating schools: Ben Porat Yosef Yeshiva Day School,
The Frisch School, Hillel Yeshiva, Kellman-Brown Academy, Lubavitch on the Palisades, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Moriah School, Netivot-The Montessori Yeshiva, Politz
Day School of Cherry Hill, Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, Shalom Torah Academy, Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County, Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Monmouth County, Torah Academy of Bergen County, Yavneh Academy, Yeshiva Bais Hillel, Yeshivat He’Atid, Yeshivat Noam and Yeshiva of the Jersey Shore.

We also thank the The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey for their support of this initiative.

We all should be proud of the progress we have made in just over a year and of the unprecedented, unified effort we are making across the entire Jewish community of NJ. It is a unique and special model. That said, we still have much work ahead of us to accomplish our goals. Working together as a united community, we will keep building on our success.

Sincerely yours,