WHY DUPLICATING THE AIPAC MODEL IS THE BEST SOLUTION IN ADDRESSING THE JEWISH DAY SCHOOL TUITION CRISIS

My day in Tallahassee lobbying for parental choice on behalf of the Jewish Community.

The Jewish community is unique in that members in various socioeconomic groups (poverty, low income, middle income and wealthy) due to cultural and religious dynamics, interact and collaborate at a very close level. This dynamic creates a shared responsibility, with Jewish law requiring the setup of a communal charity, educational center and other communal institutions so that low income families can receive adequate services on par with those of means.

In regards to the Jewish educational system, this shared responsibility and the fact that a large percentage of the parent body fall within some form of financial difficulty (large family, minimal income, cost of kosher food etc.) creates a significant financial burden on Jewish communities. Middle income and upper class families must compensate for those who cannot cover the cost of a Jewish education, while low income families often struggle to pay their reduced tuition obligations. The high cost of Jewish education is unsustainable and the Jewish community is currently experiencing a tuition crisis.

One of the reasons AIPAC is so effective in their mission to strengthen ties between the United States and Israel is due to the organization's single focus when dealing with policy makers. An equally important reason for AIPAC's success is the fact that AIPAC supporters represent a broad segment of Jews from every demographic and denomination. When meeting with policy makers, AIPAC's unity and central focus resonates and makes a tremendous impression on every legislator.

With this in mind on Tuesday, March 12, the Jewish Leadership Coalition for School Choice co-sponsored an inaugural Florida Jewish Leadership Coalition for School Choice (JLCSC) mission to Tallahassee. In conjunction with the JLCSC, the mission was co-sponsored and led by the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of South Florida and was comprised of over 30 community, school and rabbinic leaders from 12 schools representing communities from Miami Beach, up to Boca Raton.

Never before has such a large and prestigious group of Jewish leaders come together in such a manner to address school choice. The many legislators we met with including the Speaker and Future Speaker of the Florida House, the Senate and House Majority Leaders, and the Chief Financial Officer all remarked to us that this was the largest and broadest Jewish coalition to ever visit Tallahassee.

We were privileged to be joined by John Kirtley, director of the Florida Federation for Children and one of the most influential national school choice advocates, who spent the entire day with our mission educating them on the school choice movement, voicing his support for the mission’s agenda, and joining them in lobbying House and Senate leadership for the coalition’s proposed school choice expansion. Currently, programs like Step Up for Students (tax credit scholarship) and the McKay Scholarship for students with disabilities aid thousands of Florida Jewish day school families and result in millions of dollars in scholarship money for Jewish students. However, due to its rigid income eligibility requirements, the Step Up program still excludes a majority of Jewish families still struggling to afford their day school tuition. Likewise, regulations in the McKay Scholarship seriously hinder Jewish communal participation in the program. The current law limits scholarships only to those children currently enrolled in public school for at least one year. As a result, a Jewish day school student diagnosed with a qualifying disability is forced to transfer to a public school and remain there for a full year before becoming eligible for a McKay Scholarship. The JLCSC, Agudath Israel of South Florida and the Orthodox Union lobbied to expand the income guidelines for Step Up and remove the burdensome public school transfer requirement from the McKay Scholarship.

To quote Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, senior rabbi of the Boca Raton synagogue and one of the Mission participants, this issue should not be seen in the context of church-state debate. Our coalition wasn't advocating supporting religious education or specifically Jewish Day schools. Rather our focus and perspective was educating legislators that parents should have the right to exercise the ability to choose the best educational environment for their child and should be able to make the choice to determine where their tax dollars should be spent when the Federal and State government apportion tax revenues to facilitate an educational system for its citizens.

The Jewish community is at its breaking point financially. There is a need for a viable solution to the ever increasing tuition crisis. Increased government funding of parental choice programs and opportunities is the best solution to solving this issue in the short and long term. Utilizing the AIPAC model of lobbying, our community with G-d's help has the potential to see tremendous results in addressing this issue going forward.References:

www.stepupforstudents.org/http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/information/mckay/

JLC Contact: Elliot Schreiber e.schreiber@jewishleadershipcoalition.org(305) 791-7038