States Can Pave The Way For School Tuition Assistance

By Sydney Altfield

The tuition crisis and its lack of affordability have been on the Jewish community’s agenda for many years. But as of yet, no one has found that “silver bullet” that can fix that problem. But I am happy to report that Teach Coalition has worked together with community leaders, politicians, and schools to bring relief in the form of additional government funding.

We’ve achieved remarkable progress. With the creation of the Federal Scholarship Program, we are on the cusp of a revolution in Jewish education, making it vastly more affordable and accessible. The new program gives federal tax credits for donations to scholarship organizations, allowing donors to reduce their tax bill by 100% of the amount donated, up to $1,700 per year. The scholarship organizations take the money and give out scholarships that can be used for a range of educational expenses including scholarships for private schools. This will make Jewish day schools more affordable for more families.

Aside from tuition, the scholarships can be used for special needs services, transportation, tutoring, and similar expenses. The federal legislation goes into effect in January 2027 and comes at a crucial time, when antisemitism is on the rise and more Jewish families are seeking schools where their children can feel safe and supported and where they can be proud of their identity, feel a sense of belonging, and study Jewish texts, history, and culture. Indeed, since the events of Oct. 7, more families are interested in providing their children with Jewish education.

Yet, tuition is still a burden—what some have termed an existential crisis for the Jewish community—with many families either struggling to pay the tuition or being priced out altogether. The federal scholarship program directly addresses this crisis and represents a truly defining moment for Jewish education.

But it’s too soon to declare victory. That’s because there’s a big hitch: in order to unlock the potential offered by this legislation, each state must opt in to benefit.

To get this done, we need Jewish communities across the country to stand up, make their voices heard, and clearly say: Our children deserve the support needed to attend the school that best suits their needs.

Thankfully, we are well prepared to seize the opportunity. Not only has Teach Coalition spent more than a decade building and leveraging relationships on state and local levels, we have also proven the power of communal advocacy and to make Jewish education more accessible in the last decade.

In Florida, every Jewish day school student now gets more than $8,000 off their tuition thanks to universal state scholarships, and the state maintained $20 million for Jewish school security in this year’s budget, despite statewide budget cuts.

In New York and New Jersey, Jewish schools now get annual state funding for a range of school expenses. In 2025, our schools received $40 million in STEM teacher salaries and $70 million in health and security expenses. Moreover, this year, for the first time, all Jewish schools in New York are eligible for universal free meals for their students.

Other accomplishments include a pilot program providing busing to Jewish schools in Baltimore and the possibility of opening a state-funded Jewish special education school in California, thanks to the landmark Loffman v. California Department of Education court ruling.

Now we must turn the energy, community involvement, and expertise that brought about these accomplishments toward actualizing the federal scholarship program. The future of Jewish education in America has arrived at our doorstep. Now we have to fight state by state to gain the right to deliver this invaluable gift to our children and for our future. We’re ready for the fight. (JNS) n

Sydney Altfield is the national director of Teach Coalition, a nonpartisan, multi-state, grassroots movement devoted to advocating for equitable funding for nonpublic schools.