Video & Transcript: Governor Cuomo Introduces Parental Choice in Education Act on Long Island

Good Morning. It's my pleasure to be back in North Hempstead. How about that Steven Portillo -- isn't he smooth and special? I think I'm going to make a prophecy right now -- pardon the pun, Your Eminence and Rabbi. I think Steven Portillo has a career in politics, just don't run against me, Steven.

County Executive Ed Mangano, let's give him a round of applause. Rabbi Kupchik, it's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you for your beautiful words, Rabbi. Cardinal Dolan, His Eminence, he really is a New Yorker. Let's give him a round of applause.

I have been on many stages with many illustrious guests, but this is a really different kind of stage for me and if anything, it shows the breadth of support for this issue. County Executive Ed Mangano happens to be a Republican, I happen to be a Democrat. We both support the Education Tax Credit, Democratic and Republican.

Cardinal Dolan, Rabbi Kupchik, Old Testament, New Testament -- also support the Education Tax Credit. It's not about politics, it's not about religion, it's about fairness and it's about choice and it's about opportunity and it really is very simple at the end of the day.

The greatest thing we can do is to make sure we leave this place a better place for our children. And the easiest and best way to do that is to make sure they get the best education we can give them. At the end of the day, education is the gift we give our children. Education is the gift that we give the next generation and the question is, who is going to make the decision about the child's education? Who is going to decide where and what type and should it be a religious or should it be a public school? And our point is that decision should remain with the parents and the parents should have those options.

My parents chose to send me to parochial school. The religious education was very important to my parents. My father, God rest his soul, was also of the impression that I had certain challenges when it came to the area of discipline and self-control. He believed that the nuns could help me work through this issue of discipline and self-control. He was right in his diagnosis. I set the record for the most detentions ever from first through eighth grade. That's a record that I held. I actually spent double the amount of time most students spent in school given the detentions and I have a certain number of bodily scars that I carry to this day that show the nuns' good efforts. But he was right in his diagnosis, so I went to St. Gerard Majella Parochial School in Hollis, Queens for eight years. Then I went to Catholic High School -- Archbishop Molloy in Queens, then went to the Jesuit Fordham University. So I am a product of parochial school education -- that was my parent's choice. I made a different choice with my three girls. We sent them to public elementary school in Westchester. It was a good public school, it was a good district, and that was the choice that I made.

So there is no right or wrong choice. That's not what we're saying. We're saying who should make the choice and who should have the choice and we're saying it's the parents. But, to have a choice means you need to have options. If you had no options, then you have no choice. What does that mean? I want to send my child to parochial school, and then the parochial school has to exist.

My school -- St. Gerard Majella is closed. Why? They couldn't afford it. You turn on the news any given night, you hear about Catholic schools closing, Catholic schools merging, Jewish schools closing. Why? Because they can't afford to stay open. Well then how do you have a choice to send your child to a religious elementary school if they don't exist? You took that choice from the parents. So to have a choice, those schools have to exist. To have the choice, you have to be able to afford those schools and that's very hard, the economy is very tight. People are paying taxes for public schools and then if you want to send your child to a private school or a religious school, you have to pay the tuition on top of that and parents say this is very hard.

The economy is hard, number one. And number two I'm already paying taxes and the taxes are going up, up and up. Not under me, by the way…I want you to know that taxes are going down since I became governor, all across the board. I thought I would just throw that in. But taxes are very high and then you have to pay tuition on top of the taxes and this makes the burden very, very hard. Teachers in public schools will tell you they're not getting the money for the supplies, etc.

So we want to propose a law, we want Albany to pass it. It has been proposed before. It failed before because the political forces in Albany that are protecting the bureaucracy don't want to see this happen, but we're going to work harder than ever before to get the law passed and what the law does, the Education Tax Credit, is very simple. Tax credits for donations to religious organizations so they can pay for scholarships for low and middle income students who can't afford religious school. This is the first thing it does. The second thing it does is that it gives parents who pay taxes and then pay public school tuition a tax credit for part of the tuition they pay to the private school or religious school, if they are low income parents, so it gives them some of that tuition back so it makes it more affordable. And the last thing it does, for public school teachers who are literally paying out of their own pocket for supplies and for help in the class room, it gives public and private school teachers $200 dollars per year to pay for supplies for students who cannot afford them. That is what the education tax credit does.

It gives parents the real choice and it gives them real options and it keeps religious schools open and it makes it affordable for parents who are low and middle income and that to me is inarguable. Democratic, Republican, Catholic, Jewish, whatever your religion and whatever your party ideology, education is the priority, parents have the right to make the decision and you need a real choice and in this economy you need help to make that real choice financially possible. It makes all the sense in the world and but for all the politics in Albany, it would have passed and as my daughters say, "it is a no brainer." This is just a no brainer, but sometimes just being right isn't enough and there is a lot of political opposition to this in Albany. That is why we are here today, because we need your help.

Have you ever heard the expression the squeaky wheel gets the grease? My father used to say it and I am not what it means anyway but I like the way it sounds so I like to repeat it. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, because when he said it he said it with authority and everybody said, oh yes that's right, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. It means those who make noise get the attention and the reason this hasn't passed yet in the past years is because the supporters did not make enough noise.

You know when democracy works? When you make your voice heard. That is when democracy works. So our message to you today is simple; this is right, this is right, this is smart, we need you engaged to pass this law. There is one month left in the legislative session. Politicians are listening; they listen to what the people back home want. Politicians who don't hear what the people back home want are not politicians for long. You have to speak up. You have to go to your assemblyman, you have to go to your senator and say, "We want the education tax credit passed this year, don't come home without it, it is right it is fair, it is education, it is our children, it is our choice."

And that's what this education act is all about. It is the essence of New York, it is the essence of America, it is freedom of religion, the best education because that will determine your future. If you speak up, this will pass. We need you to go first.

Thank you and God bless you.

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