School Choice Champion Awarded in Pennsylvania; Education Budget Hearings in Maryland

L-R: Sean McAleer, PA Catholic Conference; Aaron Troodler, Orthodox Union; Merle Skinner, Christian Schools; Rep. Jim Christiana; Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Agudath Israel; Otto Banks, REACH Foundation

L-R: Sean McAleer, PA Catholic Conference; Aaron Troodler, Orthodox Union; Merle Skinner, Christian Schools; Rep. Jim Christiana; Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Agudath Israel; Otto Banks, REACH Foundation

As part of National School Choice Week, Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, director of Agudath Israel’s Mid-Atlantic Region traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to join with colleagues from Pennsylvania CAPE (Council for American Private Education), for the presentation of the annual School Choice Champion award to a PA state representative. This year, Rabbi Sadwin was privileged to personally present the award to representative Jim Christiana (R-15) for his many contributions to school choice legislation in Pennsylvania.

From Lancaster, Rabbi Sadwin traveled to Annapolis to testify at the education budget hearings in the Senate committee on Budget and Taxation. At the hearing, Rabbi Sadwin and several nonpublic schools coalition colleagues implored the committee members to uphold the Governor Hogan’s budget allocations for nonpublic schools, including the recurring textbook allocation and the new corporate grant program that will provide businesses with a grant for 50% of the amount of their donation to nonpublic school scholarship entities. On Monday, the same hearings took place in the House Appropriations Committee.