Hochul vows to opt into Trump admins Freedom scholarships despite opposition from teachers union

Gov.Kathy Hochul vowed Thursday to make more than 2.7 million New York public, parochial and private school students eligible for “freedom scholarships” despite opposition from the powerful teachers union.The Education Freedom Tax Credit approved by Congress and President Trump last year  provides a 100% federal tax credit for donations of up to $1,700 annually to approved scholarship-granting organizations.The nonprofit groups would then offer scholarships, which families from all schools could use to defray tuition costs.She also claimed families with incomes up to $500,000 could benefit from the program.Public school students are also eligible for scholarships to cover tutoring, after-school programs or transportation costs.“Governor Hochul’s priority is making sure every student receives an education that best meets their needs, which is why she wants the federal scholarship tax credit to benefit all New York students,”  Hochul spokesman Johan Allon said.“These credits have the potential to expand academic opportunity for public and private school students across our state without diverting resources from public schools or state and local budgets.

All stakeholders should work together to ensure this program can be implemented to maximize benefits for all New York schools, including our public schools.But leaders of the teachers unions and other public school advocates — including the NAACP and the NYCLU — claimed the program is a back-door privatization scheme aimed at siphoning taxpayers dollars from public schools.“It’s a bad thing for all the children in our state that go to public schools,” said United Federation of Teachers President Mike Mulgrew during a Wednesday press conference at union headquarters in Manhattan.“It’s a bad thing when we’re going to take taxpayer dollars and give it to folks with no accountabilty.None.”Under the law, the governor of each state has to decide whether to opt-in or opt out of the program.Mu...