PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Given the unlikelihood that New York state will create a parental school choice program anytime soon, the state’s Catholic bishops have shifted their advocacy toward federal legislation. 

The Educational Choice for Children Act has been introduced in both the Senate and the House. If passed, it would provide $10 billion in annual tax credits for educational choice nationwide, which would especially help parents in states like New York that don’t offer any private school choice programs. 

The bill is still making its way through each congressional chamber. As that happens, the New York State Catholic Conference (NYSCC), which represents the state’s Catholic bishops in public policy matters, is making it a top priority. 

“We’re trying to support families and their ability to access our schools,” Jim Cultrara, the NYSCC director for education, told The Tablet. 

“At the heart of this injustice is in states like New York, your ability to choose a school that’s best suited for your children has everything to do with whether or not you’ve got the financial means,” he said. “Educational choice in New York belongs to the parents of means, and that’s an injustice we cannot defend and are fighting to overcome.” 

The Diocese of Brooklyn operates the seventh-largest Catholic school network in the United States, with 69 elementary schools and academies that educate about 18,000 students a year, according to the diocese, and an average tuition of $5,800 a year to attend one of the schools. The diocese awarded $7.9 million to eligible families for the 2024-25 school year through a scholarship program, it noted.

Still, a state-funded private school choice program would allow even more families in the diocese to consider Catholic education, allow the schools to increase their student bodies, and have more financial stability. 

“With financial barriers removed, our Diocese of Brooklyn Catholic schools would be able to thrive with potentially significant increases in enrollment,” John Notaro, the executive director of the Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens, which runs the Futures in Education tuition assistance program, told The Tablet. 

Cultrara acknowledged that tuition assistance is a challenge that all New York dioceses and bishops face. 

“We know with great confidence that our bishops have been struggling for decades in New York, as they have been in other states with the tuition crisis, and have been forced to shutter Catholic schools because lawmakers have not helped parents with their tuition expenses,” he said. 

While more than 30 states have some kind of state-funded private school choice program, New York is not one of them. 

In the past, Gov. Kathy Hochul has supported lifting the cap on the number of charter schools in New York City, but she has not sought to enact other common forms of school choice, including education savings accounts, vouchers, or tax-credit scholarship programs. 

Hochul did not immediately respond to a Tablet request for comment. 

New York Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis co-sponsored the House version of the Educational Choice for Children Act. Nebraska Republican Representative Adrian Smith, who introduced the bill, said in a statement that empowering parents is essential to “giving students a brighter future.” 

“We must empower parents with more options, acknowledging they have the final say in what educational setting is best for their children,” Smith said. “ECCA will benefit public, private, and homeschool students and increase the quality of education in our country.” 

Cultrara highlighted that at the heart of NYSCC’s federal advocacy is the fact there isn’t any state program. 

The organization’s advocacy for the federal bill has included lobbying in Washington, launching an action alert to prompt emails to the state’s congressional delegation, and sending individual letters of correspondence to the state’s congressional delegation.

Those are all efforts that will continue, he said, noting also that the conference and bishops themselves will continue to advocate for a state program. 

“The bishops of New York state have always prioritized the rights and responsibility of parents to always direct their children’s education,” Cultrara said, “and for that reason, the bishops’ education advocacy agenda will remain a top priority.”