PHDS supports School Choice at State House rally

On Thursday, January 31, Rabbi Peretz Scheinerman and a large group of Providence Hebrew Day School (PHDS) parents, joined many other private and faith-based schools in Rhode Island at a special rally at the State House to encourage legislators to pass a voucher bill in Rhode Island. “School choice is nothing new,” said guest speaker Derrell Bradford, Executive Director of Better Education for Kids. Bradford recently served as the Executive Director and Director of Communications for Excellent Education for Everyone (E3), New Jersey’s largest school choice advocacy group. Bradford enthralled the audience  with his personal story about how his life was shaped by a scholarship he received. Bradford said that school choice exists today, but only for the rich who can choose to live in wealthy, upscale public school districts.

He stated that President Barack Obama was the recipient of a scholarship that allowed him to attend private school in Hawaii. Pointing to the dismal scores and performance in many urban schools, Mr. Bradford said that status quo is simply not acceptable.

Rabbi Peretz Scheinerman, Dean of PHDS, was selected to present the School Choice Award to two private school recipients. In his brief address, Rabbi Scheinerman mentioned “that there are already 13 states that have enacted school voucher laws, and, God willing, Rhode Island will be number 14.” Rhode Island already has a small scholarship tax credit program which has helped many parents afford PHDS, [Jewish Community Day School]  and other private schools. However, due to the nature of the program, it is not a stable source of scholarship funding for families.

“Jewish day school affordability is a system-wide problem for families,” said Rabbi Scheinerman, a strong advocate for school choice. “Regardless of income level, families seeking to educate their children are struggling. States where school choice initiatives have been enacted have been successful in recruiting new families to their communities, since tuition payments are either free or greatly reduced. We appreciate Agudath Israel of America, which has been especially supportive of this initiative; the organization sent Rabbi A.D. Motzen to visit Providence, meet with a group of school choice advocates, and offer his services and expertise to help us get a voucher law passed. His help has been invaluable.”

Attendees also heard remarks from Edward Bastia, Business Administrator for Catholic Education in Rhode Island. “The Catholic schools of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island are proud to join with Providence Hebrew Day School and other school communities of Rhode Island Families for School Choice in bringing expanded parental choice in education into focus at the Rhode Island State House. We no longer subscribe to the conventional mindset that educational opportunities should be limited by one’s street address.  The time has come to empower parents to choose the best educational environment for their sons and daughters.  Give parents credit, because they know best.”

Note: The issue of vouchers and scholarship tax credits are not without controversy nationwide and locally. At this time the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Jewish Community Relations Council have not taken a position due to the sensitivity of the issue.