Hochul to Opt NY Into Trump Federal School Choice Tax Credit; Yeshivas Celebrate, Public-School Advocates Wary
May 8, 2026Bloomberg | Chalkbeat | JTA | The City Official
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Gov. Hochul told Orthodox Jewish advocates Thu May 7 in a private meeting that NY will opt into the federal Educational Choice for Children Act — a $5B/yr nationwide K-12 tax-credit-scholarship program starting 2027 that gives donors a dollar-for-dollar federal credit up to $1,700 for gifts to scholarship-granting orgs. NY becomes 2nd Democrat-led state after Colorado (Polis) to opt in. Orthodox yeshivas (concentrated in Brooklyn/Queens) cheered; NYC public-school advocates and the UFT are wary of voucher-by-another-name effects. Crosses Mamdani's "$58.8M Education Dept cuts" frame from May 5 brief and complicates his rhetorical alignment with public schools as the May 12 NYC executive budget approaches.
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