After decades of sustained advocacy efforts, led by Teach Florida, Florida has become a national leader in school choice.
Thousands of Jewish parents in Florida struggled with the cost of Jewish day school for their children — that is, until relief came in the form of a new state universal tax credit scholarship program.
Teach FL, a critical part of a coalition of school choice advocates, ensured that Florida families with children in nonpublic schools can now receive financial relief of $8,000 per child for day school tuition — regardless of their income. This bill comes following the tireless advocacy efforts of Teach Coalition, along with other partners, to expand state scholarships for all children. Teach Coalition has already begun laying the groundwork for similar state-sponsored legislation nationwide.
Teach FL also helped advocate for a bill enabling families of students ages 3 – 22 with disabilities who are enrolled in nonpublic schools, or who are homeschooled, to receive $9,500, in the form of an educational savings account.
“THESE MISSIONS EDUCATE LEGISLATORS WHO MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF A STRONG PRIVATE YESHIVA SYSTEM.
Critical to Teach Coalition’s growth has been the persistent engagement of elected offi cials through state capital visits, legislator meetings and action alerts (nearly 40,000 this past year alone).
Teach Coalition’s missions have been diverse and impactful. They organized a historic interfaith trip to Albany and Trenton to meet with state legislators, assembled Pennsylvania’s largest-ever Jewish group in Harrisburg, and in Tallahassee, Florida, 100 lay leaders conducted over 60 meetings with legislators.
Our strength emanates from the Jewish communities we represent. Their collective voices are integral to our success and fuel a range of initiatives designed to involve, inform and empower.
A case in point: our Day School Voting Initiative in New Jersey led to Jewish voter turnout that exceeded township averages by 15 – 18 percent in the 2022 General Election and by 2 – 3 times in the 2023 Primary Election.
Our annual breakfast in Florida saw over 750 people in attendance, including lawmakers and communal leaders, while a summer event in Deal, New Jersey, brought together hundreds of community members to explore opportunities for our schools.
Our mandate often requires inventive approaches. For example, Teach NYS brokered partnerships with SUNY Empire State University and Gratz College to provide teachers with affordable avenues to acquire master’s degrees in STEM education. This initiative qualified our nonpublic schools for additional NYSED STEM teacher reimbursement grants.
Other initiatives include Project Protect, which guides organizations to obtain and implement security grants and which secured $5.7 million for yeshiva, day school and synagogue security. Our team also helped secure $11.7 million for the reimbursement of mandated services (assessments, Regents examinations and immunization programs) to nonpublic schools.
This year also saw the creation of our Office of Jewish Education Policy and Research (OJEPR) to track crucial data — enrollment, tuition and trends — of Jewish day schools and yeshivas nationwide. This invaluable, data-driven research will help inform our work and serve as a reference point for policymakers.
This past year marked another period of noteworthy progress and achievement for our Teach Coalition, with far-reaching impact in government funding options for more affordable education, our schools kept secure and our children thriving with opportunities to advance their knowledge and acquire critical 21st-century skills.
As we look to another decade of growth and beyond, Teach Coalition remains committed to harnessing the power of advocacy, engagement and innovation to ensure sustainable Jewish education for families across America.
“THE EXCITEMENT AND ENERGY FELT AT THE DEAL, NEW JERSEY EVENT WAS PROOF OF THE MONUMENTAL SHIFT OF ATTITUDE AND FEASIBILITY OVER THE LAST EIGHTEEN MONTHS."