Strengthening Torah Life. Advocating for the Community. Serving Each Individual. | | April 23, 2021 - 11 Iyar 5781 News from the Agudah:
- The largest school voucher program in the nation is getting bigger! See below for more information on Indiana's expansion of school choice. See below for more information.
- Security funding - so important to many of our mosdos and shuls - is at a critical point in Congress. Take action and urge your elected representatives to increase security grant funding. See below to take action.
- We're happy to inform you that there is a new tax credit that most businesses, mosdos (and most other non-profits) can take advantage of, as a result of the recent ARPA legislation for COVID-19 relief funding. The funding comes in the form of a tax-credit to reimburse employers for time off taken by their employees in order to take (and, if necessary, recover from) the COVID-19 vaccination. You can find out more about this by clicking here.
- Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst's halacha l'maaseh shiur will continue this Sunday morning (4/25/2021) and will be at 10:15 am EST. The call in number is (518) 425-1725 and will be on Listening to Music During Sefira.
- Bnos and Pirchei Newsletters: Download this week's Pirchei newsletters by clicking here for the Pirchei Pages and here for the Pirchei Weekly. Download the Bnos Agudath Israel newsletter for this Shabbos here.
- The Iyunim B'hilchos Shabbos will continue next week. See below for next week's schedule.
- Did you catch today's B'dibur Echad Shabbos videos? Watch them (or print the summaries for your Shabbos table) by clicking here.
| | Agudath Israel of America Celebrates Indiana School Choice Expansion | | Rabbi A. D. Motzen, Agudath Israel of America's National Director of State Relations, with Indiana, Governor Eric Holcomb. | | The largest school voucher program in the country is about to get bigger. Yesterday, the Indiana General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of a budget bill that includes the first major expansion to the state's two school choice programs since 2013. The package gives middle income families access to the program, increases the voucher amount for many students, and creates a new program for students with special needs among other measures. "Ten years after enacting a groundbreaking statewide scholarship program," said Rabbi A. D. Motzen, Agudath Israel of America's National Director of State Relations, "Indiana is once again leading the nation in providing parents with educational options for their children. The final budget deal included $1.9 billion in new education funding. Thanks to the strong leadership of Education Committee Chairman Bob Behning and Speaker Todd Huston in the House, and the support of Governor Eric Holcomb and Senate President Pro Tem Rod Bray, that funding will help all Hoosier children, regardless of where they attend school. Agudath Israel has been part of the state's school choice coalition for more than a decade and thanks the Institute for Quality Education, Indiana Non Public Education Association, EdChoice and other coalition partners. A special thank you goes to the parents and community leaders who reached out to elected officials during the legislative session. Highlights of the school choice measures included in the budget: - Extends income eligibility for the voucher program from 150% of the federal reduced lunch program eligibility threshold ($71,456 for a family of 4) to 300% ($142,912). The income eligibility will also go up to that same level for the tax credit scholarship program.
- Sets the scholarship amount at 90% for all eligible students. Currently, some scholarship students only receive 50% or 70% of the amount the state would have provided for the child in the local public school. For a district like South Bend, that means all students can receive a scholarship of up to approximately $6,200.
- Increases the annual cap on scholarship tax credits to $17.5M in FY 22 and $18.5M in FY 23
- Creates a new $10 million Education Savings Account (ESA) program for children with special needs, who meet the 300% income threshold mentioned above. These funds can be used for pre-approved educational expenses such as therapies, private tutoring, tuition and fees at approved private schools.
| | Action Alert: Urge Congress to Increase Security Grant Funding | | Dear Agudah Activist:
Our community is facing an extraordinary opportunity to take a giant step forward in helping to save lives. Congress is currently considering FY2022 appropriations legislation that could significantly boost the ongoing effort to improve security for our community institutions – shuls, yeshivas, religious facilities, charitable and social service organizations – within the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). Under NSGP, nonprofits are provided up to $100,000 worth of assistance for various types of equipment and for personnel to better secure entities at high risk of terrorist attack. Having experienced increasing threats and incidents of anti-Semitic violence we all know that the Jewish community has a strong stake in this program and must vigorously support current efforts in the House to strengthen it. Support the Current House Effort. We are pleased to reported that Representative Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Representative John Katko (R-NY) are circulating a bipartisan "Dear Colleague" letter to members that would urge the FY2022 appropriation for NSGP to $360 million. The more who sign on to the letter, the stronger the House shows its commitment to this goal and the better the likelihood it will pass. We must support the Pascrell-Katko letter and urge as many of our Representative nationwide to sign on. We know that our grassroots advocacy can make a difference. Agudath Israel and other organizations fought hard to create and maintain the NSGP program. National and local involvement, working together, brought the program to where it is today, and we can move it further ahead. Thank you for your help and support! Rabbi Abba Cohen | | The shiurim will continue next week with the access information as follows: | | | | | | |
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