Earlier this month the presidents of local shuls had a meeting at Keter Torah where one of the items on the Agenda was the Day School affordability issue. Josh Pruzansky of the OU spoke about how tuition can only be significantly lowered when state or federal governments institute a voucher program for private schools. Dr. Simcha Katz, president of the OU, said as much on the OU Blog. He suggests more community involvement in politics to help push that agenda. Here are some excerpts:
Once Orthodox communities establish a robust political voice, we will be able to more effectively promote legislation. The OU/IPA works to get legislation passed in a number of ways. IPA professionals craft new legislative initiatives and reach out to diverse coalition partners from other faith groups and ethnic organizations to support our initiatives. ...
One community seeks vouchers, another prefers a tax credit,
and yet another could benefit from creative fixes on the federal level...
We
need you—whether you are the parent or grandparent of a day school child, a
shul president or a community leader—to make a genuine commitment to political
activism and engagement. We need you to reach out to us so that we can provide
you with political know-how to help effect school reform in your community...
If you would like to volunteer to act as a coordinator in your
community for one of the initiatives I have described, please call our IPA
Washington office at 202.513.6484.
I support this concept wholeheartedly. However, I just don't know if in today's political climate, with all levels of government looking for ways to cut back, we would be able to push for increased government spending on private schools. We certainly won't be able to cut into the public school budget without starting a major war. Maybe this can be more of a long term strategy that will bear fruit in a better economy with less talk of "austerity."
