Rabbi Sadwin and Rabbi Yechiel Shaffer, mid-Atlantic regional director for the Orthodox Union, at the EITC rally in front of the PA State Capitol building 

On Tuesday, hundreds of nonpublic school children from across the state, traveled to the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg for the 18th annual celebration of the EITC – Education Improvement Tax Credit – program. The timing was perfect, as the PA House of Representatives passed a bill the same day to increase the scholarship tax credit program by $100 million, to a total of $210 million. Pennsylvania’s other scholarship tax credit program, the OSTC (Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit) is currently capped at $100 million, thus providing scholarships to more than 50,000 students across the Commonwealth through the two programs.

Over 200 Jewish day school students representing 14 schools from across the Commonwealth, traveled to Harrisburg to participate in the celebration and for an advocacy mission arranged by Teach PA, a project of the Orthodox Union.

Immediately following the EITC event, PA CAPE (Pennsylvania state chapter of the Council for American Private Education) held its annual awards ceremony. A distinguished group of nonpublic school teachers and administrators from across Pennsylvania were recognized for their excellence in several categories. Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Agudath Israel’s Mid-Atlantic director and a founding member of PA CAPE participated in both events, and joined in meetings with legislators promoting the scholarship program increases, as well as increased support for non-public school safety and security.

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