Help Tuition Assistance to be a reality in all 50 states

amother

Wed, Sep 11 2024, 7:32 pm

Could this really happen? Do you really think this will help?

Help Tuition Assistance to be a reality in all 50 states. Takes only 30 seconds to complete this. The letter is already pre-written. Sign it even if you don't have any kids in Yeshiva. It will greatly help all who pay for Yeshuva tuition. Forward this link to all groups and chats.

https://agudah.org/school-choi.....ction

amother

Pumpkin

Wed, Sep 11 2024, 8:07 pm

amother Raspberry wrote:

Im still unclear who will actually be helped

Will the lower middle class (barely making ends meet yet not eligible for programs? actually be helped, or once again thrown under the bus?

Will the schools just raise tuition even more to reflect the assistance?

Is it realistic or just a vote with no plan of ever getting approved?

It's the first time it's even getting to the House. So an impressive amount of progress, actually.

Whether it will help the parents or not remains to be seen. I imagine that will be location-dependent. Maybe the Florida or Ohio parents can chime in.

Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Wed, Sep 11 2024, 8:11 pm

This isn't about vouchers.
This is about getting a federal tax credit by donating to a scholarship fund for private school students under the 300% level of the FPL.

How the SGO (scholarship granting organization) well actually work I don't think we know enough yet in terms of distribution regulations and oversight but it's a huge step forward.

Various states have instituted SGO programs and they're all run differently. Illinois just lost theirs.

My school's SGO program definitely helps parents as there's more scholarship funding to give out than before.

amother

Ecru ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 4:16 am

amother Emerald wrote:

The only bill I am supporting is to get a tax credit on money I pay for my tuition.
How will they divide the money?

That’s shortsighted.

If this bill comes through and even if you don’t qualify for funding from them, it will be easier for you to get a scholarship from your school if the lower income families are using these grants. It benefits everyone.

amother

↑ Ecru

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 4:49 am

Molly Weasley wrote:

It takes literally 2 minutes to send an email. #doit

These types of bills are important for everyone. Tuition costs are astronomical.

A tax credit helps the system work better, even if it doesn't help your particular situation

It looks like it’s for families making around 48,000 a year which is nothing but maybe it will open the door for more.

Aurora ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 4:52 am

amother Silver wrote:

Our congress woman in Illinois responded that she will vote against it Sad

She saud she believes all extra funding should go to public school Sad

I agree. I know yeshiva tuition is a lot (and we aren't making that much), but that's a public thing.

1. Private school is literally a private school. If you don't want what the government is offering, then go pay for it yourself.
2. This could be a gateway for government interference in private schools and their curricula. How much relations ed do you want?
3. This comes out of limited funds. The government isn't a piggy bank, and the money comes from our taxes and the (ridiculously oversized) national debt. If the government pays for it, out of which program(s) is the money supposed to come?
4. Good public schools help all of us indirectly.

amother

↑ Emerald

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:24 am

amother Ecru wrote:

It benefits everyone if the middle income people can afford tuition so the school can give a break to the lower income.

Also how will they divide the funds? Anything the government gets involved in gets mismanaged.

Rockland county has the highest concentration of Jews and the highest property tax. The government can manipulate things however they want.

amother

NeonPink ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:37 am

A massive chunk of your taxes is going to support public schools anyway. So isn't it better some goes to support the educational needs of our community too?

Even if it's not dispersed how you like, it's still better going to frum mosdos, frum family, frum economy, than only dispersing to public schools

(Ideally, hypothetically, I say do away with the whole public school system to lower taxes, cuz the public schools get paid insane amount for each kid, things run by the government aren't done efficiently. Maybe a voucher only system. But that's not happening...)

keym

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:40 am

amother NeonPink wrote:

Won't it just cause taxes to be raised to cover all the public AND private school needs?

↑ Molly Weasley ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:41 am

Aurora wrote:

1) We are paying for it ourselves!
Federal and state government forces us to pay taxes to fund public schools. There's no reason why we shouldn't be asking for a cut.

2) the money does not go directly to the school, I don't see how this is relevant

3) Cut some Public School spending. The numbers are outrageous

4) Good private schools help the public indirectly as well.

↑ Molly Weasley ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:43 am

keym wrote:

Won't it just cause taxes to be raised to cover all the public AND private school needs?

Perhaps this will prompt politicians to recognize that public school spending is spiraling out of control, and they should consider adopting the private school's approach to achieve better quality and cost-effectiveness.

Last edited by Molly Weasley on Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:45 am; edited 1 time in total

↑ Hashem_Yaazor ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:44 am

Either no one read my post or no one understood it.

This is not a voucher system. This is simply redirecting tax dollars to scholarship funds. It won't have bearing on school curriculum, especially since schools are run under state law and this is a federal proposal.

I am not sure where the $48,000 figure came from. From my understanding of this proposal, families at or below the 300% FPL would be eligible.
As of now, and it will go up over the winter, family with 4 kids meets that criteria at $125,880.
On the East and West coasts, that looks like a ridiculously low number but states throughout the country this is actually considered not a small salary.

Things are still up in the air but it's a step in the right direction.
Once you're paying taxes, wouldn't you rather decide you want it to help educate children in a way that promotes the family values rather than have it go to something like toilet bowl research? (Not my line 😉)

I met with the Lt. Governor of my state 2 days ago. He made an interesting point. While he himself went to public school and sent his kids there as well, he's a strong proponent of empowering parents to make the right educational choices that fit their family because, he says, it will help reduce a lot of this political tension and polarization. (These are my words, I'm not quoting him.) Right now, when we expect a one size fits all model, everyone wants to dictate how it's run because everyone needs to send there. By giving opportunities to parents to find the educational model best for their kid (not even discussing religious, but maybe academic offerings or art offerings or a schedule that works well for their child), there's less of this tug of war on how the public school paradigm should look like because people can self select. The biggest barrier to these opportunities is, of course, finances.

By opening up more scholarship money for families to choose a school that best fits their child, we're helping students, parents, school, and society as a whole.

↑ Aurora ↓

Thu, Sep 12 2024, 5:44 am

amother NeonPink wrote:

No. It's not.

Still opens the gateway to government interference in our schools, and we all benefit from supporting our neighbors' educational needs. You think that only Jews build bridges, work as doctors, etc? Our property values go up partly if there are good public schools in our district.

Every child deserves a good education, whether or not that child is a Jew. Public education is a public services. If you want a different education, pay for it.

A huge part of why it has been so easy to live as a Jew in the USA is because there is a separation between public institutions and religious ones. I think if we break that wall, we're in trouble. But our kids will be the ones paying the bill.

Most of the schools that will benefit are probably Catholic ones, not Jewish. We're a tiny minority.

Look at the cost of tuition for each kid. Is the amount a public school spends really so insane?