New PA Budget
Benefits Jewish
Day Schools
Selah Maya Zighelboim | JE Staff
F or families at Kohelet Yeshiva, scholarships obtained through the
Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program — the main
revenue source for the school’s scholarships — are “life-changing,”
Kohelet Yeshiva Executive Director Stuart Gasner said.

“I don’t even know what they would do” without the aid, he said.

“Their children wouldn’t even be able to attend this institution.

Families recognize that, without this generous program and without
the school being able to offer scholarships through the generosity of
our community, there’s no way that a lot of our families would even
consider our school.”
Forty percent of Pennsylvania Jewish day school students qual-
ify and receive scholarships through the EITC or the Opportunity
Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs.

These programs incentivize businesses to donate to approved school
scholarship funds, such as the Foundation for Jewish Day Schools at
the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, to receive a tax credit.

Families can then apply and, based on eligibility and the scholarship
Students rally in support of EITC and the OSTC programs, as well as for
additional security and health funding at nonpublic schools.

Photo provided
monies’ availability, receive scholarships to attend nonpublic schools.

The 2018-2019 Pennsylvania budget increases the EITC program by
$25 million, for a total of $160 million and continues funding the OSTC
program at $50 million.

“We see numbers go down and we see numbers go up, and we see
regulatory changes that hurt low- and middle-income families, and
then some years it is helpful,” said Arielle Frankston-Morris, director
of Teach PA, a part of the Orthodox Union’s Teach Advocacy Network.

“Thankfully, this was a year that really helped Jewish education.”
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The budget also includes new regulatory
changes to these programs. The maximum annual
household income to receive scholarships has
increased from $75,000 to $85,000.

“These programs offer educational access for
low- and middle-income families,” Frankston-
Morris said. “It’s really leveling the playing field
for students from different communities and dif-
ferent socioeconomic backgrounds and giving
kids an opportunity to be at a school that is best
suited for them.”
The new budget also makes school safety a
priority, she said. The Office of Safe Schools will
offer a $6 million grant program for school police
officers, of which $2.6 million will be prioritized
for nonpublic schools.

“We fought tooth-and-nail for inclusion of
nonpublic schools in security increases this year,
and we are very happy that there’s an increase in
that program,” Frankston-Morris said. “Lots of
our schools will be applying for a grant this year.”
The budget continues to include about $88
million for services to nonpublic schools and
about $27 million for textbooks, materials and
equipment for such institutions.

Getting these budget changes has not been an
easy battle. Frankston-Morris said Teach PA met
with legislators, had legislators come visit schools
and sent a delegation of 200 parents, students,
educators and community leaders to Harrisburg
on May 2 to rally for the tax credit programs, as
well as for additional security and health funding.

“We’re thrilled at the state and very thankful
to the state, to the governor and the legislature
for implementing this change, for improving the
increase,” said Ellen Horowitz Matz, director
of the Education Tax Credit programs at the
Foundation for Jewish Day Schools. “It’s very
expensive sending kids to private schools. It’s
extremely helpful, and the price of a private
education, from both the parents and, in certain
instances, the schools when they decide to provide
that private education, it gets more and more chal-
lenging every year.”
For the 2017-2018 school year, the Foundation
for Jewish Day Schools awarded more than $6.5
million in needs-based scholarships to more than
790 students to attend local Jewish day schools.

The foundation also awarded more than $780,000
in scholarships to almost 250 preschool students.

At the moment, the foundation does not know
how many more students it will be able to award
because of the tax credit program increases.

For the coming school year, the foundation
is considering applications of families who have
already applied. The foundation will work with
families who decide now to enroll their child in a
Jewish day school on a case-by-case basis.

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