New York Governor Kathy Hochul intends to opt into the federal government’s new school-choice scholarship program that goes into effect in 2027, marking a major victory for Jewish advocacy groups who have lobbied extensively in support of the move. The program called the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit by the IRS and which is set to go into effect on January 1, is a provision of the federal government’s fiscal policy package, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law on July 4, 2025. The program will grant taxpayers a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for money donated to certain Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). These organizations will grant scholarships to students attending private elementary and secondary schools.
The federal program requires that a state’s government chooses to recognize eligible SGOs, effectively meaning that students can only benefit in states that have opted into the program. Currently, around 30 states have signaled that they will opt in, with Hochul being one of few Democratic governors to support the program. In a few states, Republican-majority legislatures have overridden the vetoes of Democrat governors and opted into the program. Many Republican states already have similar school choice programs, but this is the first such program on the federal level.
Jewish organizations have long seen school choice programs, which effectively allow taxpayers to put their money toward non-public education, as a way to bring down the high cost of private Jewish education, and groups like Agudath Israel of America, Teach Coalition (a project of the Orthodox Union), and United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York (UJA) lobbied Hochul, the governor of the state with the largest Jewish population in the country, to opt into the program.
“This was truly a unified communal effort,” said Sydney Altfield, CEO of Teach Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates for government funding and resources for Jewish schools. She added, “It was the right, the left, and everyone in the middle, which is really the full breadth of the community we represent.”
Jewish groups involved Jewish schools in their advocacy, bringing them to Albany and to meet with legislators and participate in letter-writing efforts. Other non-Jewish organizations also lobbied for the move, with school choice being a common policy position of the right. Left-leaning opposition has argued that school choice programs divert funds from and thereby harm public schools.
According to Rabbi A. D. Motzen, Agudath Israel’s National Director of Government Affairs, getting New York to opt in was “a priority.” He added that the group met with the governor and her staff multiple times, “explaining how important the federal tax credit opportunity is for all New Yorkers whether they attend public or Jewish and other nonpublic schools.” Hochul’s initial announcement of her intention to opt into the program came at a meeting with Agudah leaders at the office of the group’s chairman of the board, Sol Werdiger, in early May. Her office has since confirmed the state’s intention to opt in but said it “awaits information from the federal government on the program and will thoroughly review the details of the policy for poison pills that could harm New York’s education system.”
The school choice program’s income guidelines, which allow families making up to “300% of their area median income” to financially benefit, mean that “a large majority of Jewish families with school-aged children in New York will be eligible for a scholarship,” according to Motzen. Scholarship money can be used for “qualified expenses,” including tuition and other expenses related to school attendance, as well as other services needed by the student in order to attend school, like technology and internet access. “There is no maximum scholarship, so the more money raised by our community the more students can get served and the higher the potential scholarship amounts can be,” Motzen added. “The key will be to get every person – both within, and outside of the Jewish community to contribute to scholarship organizations.” He added that in states with similar school choice programs, it takes a few years to educate taxpayers about the program to get them to donate to SGOs.
“We still need to see how much money is raised through the tax credit and how the SGO will distribute the funds, but the bottom line is that parents will see concrete financial relief,” said Altfield. “It’s actual money that helps families afford Jewish education.” As an example, Motzen said that if 300 donors each contribute the maximum $1,700 to an SGO, 100 students could each receive a $5,000 scholarship. In some states with similar school choice programs, combining state and federal scholarships “could make tuition free for students in some cities,” according to Motzen.
Groups like the Agudah and Teach Coalition say they continue to engage in a variety of efforts to ease the financial burden of Jewish education, securing funds for security, special education, professional development, and STEM and music programs. “The goal is always to reduce the financial pressure on Jewish families and strengthen our schools,” said Altfield.
Although more than half of states have opted into the scholarship program, Democratic governors of other states with large Jewish populations, including New Jersey, California, and Illinois, have not yet publicly announced whether or not they will participate. Still, Jewish groups see the move by Hochul as a significant step forward. “The passage of the tax credit and its adoption by nearly 30 states so far is just the latest example of how school choice is spreading across the country,” said Motzen.