Back to the Issues: Fidler, Storobin Spur for Yeshiva Mantle

Lew Fidler, in a mailer to parents and in a release, laid out his "5 Point Plan to help Yeshiva parents," while Storobin responded with his support for School vouchers.



Fidler Mailer

 Here is the list of Fidler's proposals, with OP's comments:

1) Providing Tuition Tax Credits to reimburse parents up to $5,000 in tuition per yeshiva student.
Q. Will it be refundable, to assist parents who doesn't pay taxes?

2) Providing State funding for security cameras around all yeshivas.
Great idea, especially after the tragic Kletzky story.

3) Increasing funding for Priority 5 after-school vouchers so that all eligible children can receive them.
Fidler was at the forefront of that fight is city council, but this fight was mostly fought on city level. How much input does the State have on this?

4) Giving parents vouchers to choose their own transportation options to accommodate the hectic schedules of our community’s families.
This was a centerpiece of David Greenfield's campaign for city council, but we barely heard of it since then. During the years several bills were proposed in the legislature to introduce such a change, but they went nowhere, possibly due to Union opposition. Is it credible now? Why should Fidler be able to achieve such a change, when he'll belong to a minority and Skelos angles for his seat?

5) Forcing the State to reimburse private schools the $350 million already owed for mandated services—funds that would go directly to yeshivas and will ease the burden on tuition-paying parents.
This is issue is the main focus of Agudah and Askunim lobbying for years, with ups and downs. Whoever wins this seat, will participate in the fight. Will Fidler be any more effective than his opponent?

Fidler points to his track record in City Council, that he can achieve these thinks.

Storobin, for his part, issued a press release today vowing to make school vouchers a top priority in the State Senate if elected. “For the orthodox Jewish, it’s particularly important. Private tuition for yeshiva can be as much as $10,000 or more per high school student, and almost as much for children in primary school. To a family with five or six children, that is a tremendous burden.”

Grand idea, but very few believe that it's doable in NY State, where the constitutional church-state separation is wider than the federal separation. Storobin lost an attempt to appear on the ballot on a school voucher party line, due to technicalities.

FIdler's expenditure filing show that almost 40 percent of the $21,141.89, he spent until the end of January, went to advertise in Orthodox circulations and related graphics.For notification of new posts, follow me @opundit.