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January 17, 2006
Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations Applauds Pataki Proposal For State
Education Tax Credit; "An Excellent Start Toward Empowering All
Parents"
Today, the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, through its Institute
for Public Affairs, applauded a proposal announced by New York
State Governor George Pataki, as part of his new budget
proposal, to create a state tax credit of educational
instruction expenses for low- and modest-income families.
In the proposed 2006-07 budget announced today, Gov. Pataki
presents a refundable state tax credit for $500 per K-12 student
to families with an income of under $75,000 per year (and phased
out as families reach $90,000 per year) for educational
instruction expenses, including tuition, tutoring and others.
Under the proposal, families would have to live in jurisdictions
(such as New York City) where federal law has identified
“failing” schools and parents must be offered a choice of
alternative enrollment and/or tutoring services.
Several states, including Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona,
Minnesota and Illinois, already have various versions of state
education tax credits in place and they have generated hundreds
of millions of dollars in aid and support to schools and
families of school-age children. Such tax credit programs have
been upheld by courts in those states and by the U.S. Supreme
Court as constitutional.
Stephen Savitsky, president of the Union, and Nathan Diament,
director of the Union’s public policy Institute, issued the
following statement in reaction to the Governor’s proposal:
The Orthodox Union
greatly appreciates the state education tax credit proposal
put forward today by Governor George Pataki. The Governor’s
proposal is a very good first step toward enacting a program
which will empower all families of school-age children in
New York. We look forward to working with the Governor and
legislators to refine and improve the proposal and see it
enacted into law to the benefit of all New Yorkers.
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