With the results of New York’s statewide and legislative primaries, the impact of Jewish Day School and Yeshiva voters is clearer than ever before. Teach NYS will continue comprehensive voter engagement and turnout in advance of the November general elections.
“The lesson from this primary, is that candidates who ignore the nonpublic school community have no future in New York politics,” said Teach NYS Executive Director Maury Litwack. “The consistent theme in the statewide races is clear – candidates who engage our community and understand our issues defeat slates that refuse to do so.”
New York’s nonpublic schools educate more than 400,000 students each year with Jewish day school and yeshivas educating more than 150,000 of them.
Teach NYS has spent weeks focusing on voter engagement within the nonpublic school community and will continue to educate voters in the lead up to the general election in November. Teach NYS has worked with its more than 50-member schools, and scores of synagogues across New York State to educate voters about the importance of voting in every election.
Additionally, during this election cycle Teach NYS has incorporated new strategies and tools to make voting easier and to increase voter engagement within our communities. It will be expanding its voter engagement efforts in the coming weeks to include door-to-door canvassing, phone calls and a sizable media buy to educate voters and elected officials on the importance of voting and the crucial role nonpublic school communities play in electoral politics.
“The tuition crisis remains the single most important domestic policy issue for our community,” added Litwack. “Our community votes on this issue and we will continue to engage voters statewide on a massive scale.”
Teach NYS has partnered with Turbo Vote, a free service that lets community members know when elections are happening and provides the information needed to vote with confidence. Once signed up for this free service, Turbo Vote sends text and email reminders about registration deadlines, upcoming elections and more. One can register to vote, update their voter registration, or request an absentee ballot through the portal. To sign up in New York, visit https://teachnys.turbovote.org/
Teach NYS, a division of the Orthodox Union’s Teach Advocacy Network, was founded in 2013 to advocate for equitable government funding in New York nonpublic schools. It has secured an additional $450 million in funding for day schools, which is used to increase security, enhance education and defray higher tuition costs. Currently, more than 40 day-schools and yeshivas receive government funding through Teach NYS. For more information, visit https://teachadvocacy.org/newyork/.