“We are alarmed and deeply disappointed that Governor Hochul is defying moms, families, educators, and New York’s civil rights community by opting into the Trump administration’s scholarship tax credit scheme. This program will do what it was designed to do: enrich private schools, which can legally turn away students with disabilities, children who are LGBTQIA+, and families that can’t pay. The Governor says this won’t take a dollar from public schools, but it takes federal tax money, which belongs to all of us, and hands it to private schools with no rules about who they must admit or how they account for it. New York’s public school children are the ones left out. Last spring, the Governor’s office promised to review this program for ‘poison pills.’ The lack of accountability is the poison pill.

“As the mom of New York City public school students and a former public school teacher, I am keenly aware of the importance of public education. New York’s moms want public funds to support public schools that serve all our children. Gov. Hochul’s decision was a mistake but it isn’t permanent. Governors have to opt in every year. We will be back before the next deadline, with parents, to make sure New York gets out. Public dollars belong in public schools.”