More than $20 million in state scholarships sends 2700 Jewish children to Florida Day Schools and Yeshivot
Teach Florida just announced that 2700 Jewish children are attending day schools and yeshivot across Florida this year on tax credit and special needs scholarships. Valued at more than $20 million, this is a $4 million increase in scholarship funding from last year.
“These scholarships are making it possible for more children to receive the quality secular and Jewish education offered by our schools,” said Mimi Jankovits, Executive Director of Teach Florida.
“About 40% of our students at Yeshiva Elementary School are benefiting from the tax credit scholarships,” said Rabbi Chaim Friedman, YES Director of Development. “This program greatly increases our ability to absorb a wider and more diverse student body as a result of the added resources the parents now possess.”
Teach Florida advocated for the recent increase in the per pupil amount of the tax-credit scholarships, which now run from $6400 for elementary students to $6900 for high-schools students from low-to-moderate income families. Past advocacy efforts resulted in dropping the public school attendance requirement and increasing expanding income eligibility requirements.
“Teach Florida’s commitment to more affordable and safer nonpublic schools has resulted in more than $69 million in scholarships and security funding since 2011,” said Dr. Allan Jacob, co-chair of Teach Florida. “We will continue to advocate for these and other programs to help our families and schools at our December 10 Legislative Breakfast and in the upcoming legislative session.”
For more information, contact Mimi Jankovits, Executive Director, Teach Florida at mimij@ou.org.