New York Opts In to Yeshiva Tuition Relief Program

In a move that could bring financial relief to frum families across New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that New York will join the new federal scholarship tax credit program that would include yeshivos and other frum schools.

The program, scheduled to begin at the start of the 2027 tax year, allows individual taxpayers to claim a federal income tax credit of up to $1,700 for qualifying cash donations to scholarship-granting organizations.

Hochul said the state decided to participate after reviewing the federal regulations and determining that the program could bring millions of additional dollars to New York students and families without reducing funding for public schools or drawing on state and local budgets.

“I’m not going to leave money on the table when it could help our kids,” Hochul said in a statement.

As reported by Anash.org several months ago, Governor Hochul told Agudah askanim during a private meeting at the offices of Agudah Chairman Reb Shloime Werdiger that New York plans to opt in to the federal scholarship tax credit program.

The program stems from H.R. 1, President Donald Trump‘s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which provides a $1,700 federal tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, which then distribute the money to eligible students for expenses including private school tuition, tutoring and other qualified educational expenses.

This could allow tens of thousands of frum families whose children attend yeshivos and private schools across the state to receive scholarships, potentially providing meaningful and significant tuition relief for families struggling with the high cost of private education.

The push for a federal scholarship tax credit built momentum over several years, advancing first as a national school choice effort aimed at letting taxpayers fund scholarship organizations directly.

It gained further traction when more than fifty public officials joined a new initiative urging Congress to adopt school choice, before the proposal ultimately cleared a key hurdle when the school choice measure made it through the Senate as part of Trump’s broader tax and spending package, which made the credit permanent and removed the earlier cap on total donations.

School choice has long been a difficult issue for Democrats, many of whom argue that choice programs pull resources away from public education. Hochul is the third Democratic governor to opt in.

The announcement also comes as Hochul faces reelection this November, and she is seeking to win support among New York’s frum community ahead of the gubernatorial election.