Can President Trump Make Yeshiva Tuition Free?

Photo Credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90

Man walks past school bus in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

What if yeshiva tuition were free? What if the main responsibility of supporting nonpublic schools, including Jewish ones, fell on the community and the government, and not on struggling parents? What if cost was not a barrier for those who wanted to choose a Jewish education for their children? In some communities where robust school choice programs exist this is already happening to a large degree. But what if this could be a reality in all 50 states?

Together with my colleagues at the Agudah and allies, I have worked for the last twenty years to make that dream a reality, and I have some good news. If passed and implemented strategically, the Educational Choice for Children Act just reintroduced in Congress may be a step toward that ultimate goal.

The proposed bill, a top priority of Agudath Israel of America, allocates $10 billion per year in tax credits that would be used for scholarships for K-12 educational expenses including private school tuition. The tax credit isn’t received by the parent to reimburse them for what they spend on tuition. Rather, it would provide a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for taxpayers who contribute to a nonprofit Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO). The SGO would then provide scholarships to children of eligible families. This way it helps those who need it most regardless of their tax liability.

Taxpayers receive the tax credit if they donate up to ten percent of their adjusted gross income (AGI) or $5,000 (whichever is higher) and corporations can donate up to five percent of their taxable income.

Let’s take as an example a family earning $150,000. They can choose to pay Uncle Sam the approximately $15,000 they owe or they can donate $15,000 to a scholarship organization and reduce their tax liability to zero.

If every family and business in our community, whether or not they have children in our schools, donates the maximum allowed contribution, it would generate enough funds to significantly lower tuition and, in some cases, allow students to attend for free. While the law prohibits donors from earmarking their donation to specific students, there is nothing preventing donors from designating their contribution to a specific school or group of schools, and this, in fact, is how many of the more than 20 existing scholarship tax credit programs work currently.

A very large percentage of the families in our community could benefit from this exciting program as those donations would be pooled together by the SGO and scholarships could be awarded to families earning up to triple the median income in that area (median income ranges from $75,000 to $150,000 depending on the location). While we continue to advocate for universal eligibility, this would easily cover the struggling middle class.

While only families within the bill’s generous income limits would be eligible for the funds from the scholarship organization, schools could use the money they annually raise directly from donors to lower the effective tuition for everyone. Such a system would also incentivize the wealthier parents to contribute to the scholarship organization and solicit others to do so as well. Relatives and employers may be more willing to donate when they see that the funds help reduce the tuition burden on parents.

This isn’t only a dream. We have already seen tuition reduced or eliminated in some states with school choice programs and this could help further reduce the cost of education for families. In states like Florida, where all students receive $8,000, or Ohio where students receive up to $8400, zero or minimal tuition becomes even more feasible. Whether tuition is reduced by $2,000 a child or much more, it would be the first and only scholarship program in some of the states where the majority of the Jewish community currently resides.

Of course, this dream makes many assumptions including that fundraising efforts, which are part of every school’s budget, continue as before and that our community will be able to raise the necessary funds before the tax credits, which are awarded mostly on a first-come-first-served basis, run out.

Some schools will admittedly not be able to lower tuition by the full amount generated by the tax credit program as they currently operate at a deficit or have other pressing educational and budgetary needs. Some schools cater to a parent body that makes this more challenging, and if your school currently charges $25,000 a child, it may be much harder to get it down to zero. Every school is different, but in every situation, the Educational Choice for Children Act would truly be a game-changer and it is the next major step on the way to truly universal school choice. And that’s why it needs everyone’s support.

Through Agudah’s network of regional offices, my colleagues have been at the forefront of promoting and implementing similar legislation in state capitals which have helped tens of thousands of students attend the Jewish school of their choice. In the last five years more than a dozen states have enacted universal school choice programs. The time has come to expand choice to all 50 states.

While this federal push began in earnest a few years ago, now with President Trump in office, the hope is to get this proposal included in the major budget deal that needs to pass Congress this year to extend the 2017 tax cuts. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was outspoken in his support for school choice and has repeatedly promised to sign this bill if it got to his desk. Last session, Agudah successfully worked with its allies to garner the support of more than 180 members of Congress and helped a version of this bill get passed out of the important House Ways and Means Committee. Now with your help, we need to get it over the finish line.

Aside from the high-level advocacy efforts by my Agudah colleagues and other allies, we need your grassroots voices. That can be as simple as taking 30 seconds and clicking on the action alert link on our website which sends an email to your Congressional representatives and asks them to co-sponsor the legislation. If they have already done so, then thank them and encourage them to do whatever it takes to get this proposal included in the budget deal.

Even if your member of Congress has not supported school choice in the past and opposes this specific bill, it is important for them to hear from constituents. They may not change their mind or their vote but they may temper their opposition or comments upon seeing that tens of thousands of their constituents care deeply about this issue.

These next few months may be our only opportunity in a long time to enact such game-changing legislation. Am I foolish for dreaming? Well, to paraphrase my father’s rosh hayeshiva, the late Ponevezher Rav, dreams can be made realities; but we can’t afford to keep sleeping.

To learn more about the 50-state school choice proposal and to take action go to Agudah.org/schoolchoice.