“It’s an exciting time in federal politics,” says Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Executive Director of Agudath Israel of Maryland. That is because the President of the United States and the U.S. Congress are considering tuition assistance for private education. A historic $5 billion dollar scholarship tax credit proposal is part of a reconciliation budget package – also known as the “one big beautiful bill” – that has been making its way, first through the House of Representatives and then the Senate for approval. (It passed the House as I submitted this article!) The excitement began in September 2024, when members of the Ways and Means Committee passed the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) with a vote of 23 to16. It has passed before, but this time, Republicans are the majority in Congress, and they are supporting President Donald Trump’s agenda for “universal school choice.”
The $5 billion school choice proposal will give a full tax credit
(dollar-to-dollar) to those who donate funds to scholarship granting organizations
(SGO). In turn, these SGOs will provide scholarships for educational expenses
to families earning up to 300% of the median income in that area. These
expenses include private school tuition! The proposal is based on the
successful model of school choice bills in over 20 states in America, due in
part to Rabbi A.D. Motzen, National Director of Government Affairs for Agudath
Israel, who traveled from state to state to encourage educational choice.
Commenting on the $5 billion national scholarship proposal, Rabbi Motzen
says, “It’s
a once in a
generation opportunity.” He explains why it’s part of the reconciliation budget
package. “Reconciliation is a particular type of budget bill process that
allows a bill to pass the Senate with 51 votes, unlike most bills, which need
60 votes in the Senate to avoid a filibuster,” says Rabbi Motzen. “Since some
members of Congress feel that allowing parents to choose the best educational
setting for their child is controversial, the only way to get this done is
through reconciliation.”
For decades, Agudath Israel has been working overtime in Washington for
various school choice proposals before leading up to this exciting opportunity.
In more recent years, Rabbi Abba Cohen, Vice President of Government Affairs
and Washington Director of Agudath Israel for over 30 years, asked members of
the Jewish community to write letters to their federal elected officials in
support of a $10 billion school choice bill, along the lines of the current
legislation. Although the letters made an impact, he didn’t necessarily expect
that bill to pass. “We’re just planting seeds,” he said, “and hope they will
take root.”
Baruch Hashem, those seeds
have taken root and are about to blossom. Although members of Agudath Israel
are excited about this, some have expressed hope that the Senate might increase
the proposal from $5 billion to the original $10 billion.
Opponents of this bill, mostly heads of teacher unions, say that it will
take money away from public schools. Some say that it’s unconstitutional.
Another group claims it can hurt special needs students who benefit from the
legal mandate that every child should be able to attend public schools.
“All of these are the same old and unproven talking points used by those
opposed to parents exercising their right to choose the educational setting
that best meets their child’s needs,” says Rabbi Motzen. He states that this
bill is definitely constitutional and doesn’t harm public school students nor
those with special needs. Rabbi Motzen points out that “public school students
can benefit as well by using scholarships for tutoring or special education
services.”
As I was writing this article on Monday, May 19, 21 Iyar, Agudath Israel
sent out an email commemorating the 27th yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moshe Sherer. The email said that Rabbi Sherer,
as president of Agudath Israel of America from the ’60s until his passing on May
17, 1998, believed in equity between public school and private school students.
In March 1961, he testified before the Committee on Education in the House of
Representatives, saying, “The Jewish parent who sends his child to a parochial
school has to make many sacrifices to meet the cost of educating his children,
often at the price of denying himself and his family some of their own vital
needs. It is our view that to deny these taxpaying American citizens of the Orthodox
Jewish faith the benefit of their taxes in order to help defray the large
expense of maintaining the Jewish parochial school system for their children is
a discrimination not in accordance with basic American ideals.”
For sure, Rabbi Sherer made an impact with his speech. On April 9, 1965,
Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, signed into law by
President Lyndon B. Johnson. It contained the principle of equitable
participation of private school students in several of its important programs,
such as Title I remedial education, which has been a boon for the growing
Jewish day school movement. At Torah Day School of Atlanta, I saw Title I
teachers make a difference for children who needed help, without parents having
to pay additional money for tutoring.
Since the 1960s, maybe even earlier, we’ve been waiting for passage of such
a proposal as the $5 Billion Scholarship Tax Credit bill. Rabbi Sadwin is
correct; it’s an exciting time for politics in Washington. Avi Lencz, his
Associate Director of Agudath Israel of Maryland, agrees and states that if
this bill passes, it will add to the tuition programs available in Maryland. For
more information and application closing dates for these programs, please check
their website https://agudathisrael-md.org/tuition.
As I was writing this article, I received frequent updates from Agudath
Israel. On May 19, one email announced that the House Budget Committee passed
the multi-trillion dollar reconciliation bill. The email noted, “‘One big beautiful
bill’ now moves forward to the Rules Committee before a full House vote
expected by the end of the week.” Because of the speed of what’s happening, the
historic $5 Billion School Choice proposal, which is part of the reconciliation
package, might be approved by Congress before this article is published, b’ezras Hashem.
