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Placards, prayers and pleas recently brought numerous East Harlem Catholic elementary school children to their feet at a highly spirited rally in support of the New York State Education Investment Tax Credit.
The enthusiastic youngsters from two Catholic grade schools were led by Cardinal Dolan, who joined state Assemblymember Robert Rodriguez, who attended Cardinal Hayes High School, the Bronx, and numerous other community and civic leaders at the morning rally March 11.
“Catholic schools have been part of the American dream for more than 200 years, pulling children out of poverty—including countless immigrants—and preparing them for careers ranging from shopkeepers to school teachers to Supreme Court justices,” the cardinal said. “Families cannot put their children’s education on hold. Lawmakers need to enact the Education Tax Credit in this year’s state budget.”
Held at El Museo del Barrio on Fifth Avenue in East Harlem, the gathering called Gov. Cuomo and the state Legislature to increase scholarships for low-income and working family students hoping to attend parochial and other private schools by expanding an existing tax incentive for the same purposes.
The bill pending in Albany would also increase charitable donations to public schools. The total increase in donations would be divided evenly between public school needs and scholarships for students to attend parochial or other private schools.
It has broad bipartisan support in Albany, including urban and suburban lawmakers in both parties in the Assembly and Senate, as well as from Gov. Cuomo, who has included the proposal in his 2015-2016 executive budget. A version of the bill has passed the Senate and the Assembly version has more than 75 sponsors, according to rally organizers.
Students, faculty and administrators from Our Lady Queen of Angels, 229 E. 112th St., and Mount Carmel-Holy Rosary Consolidated School, 371 Pleasant Ave., participated in the rally.
“If anybody needs to have a reason to be enthusiastic about this Education Investment Tax Credit, all they have to do is look out at you,” Cardinal Dolan told the energetic youngsters.
“You are our beloved children,” he continued. “You are our treasures. You are our jewels. You are the present and the future. We love you. We are proud of you.
“We need to give you the best education possible, and I don’t know of any better way to do that than to get behind this Education Investment Tax Credit. Let’s Go. Vamos Adelante. Let’s Go Ahead.”
The students didn’t hesitate to raise their voices by joining in such clever cheers as: “EITC, EITC, Scholarships for You and Me; EITC, EITC, Helping My Community.”
The rally, held in the auditorium of the museum located between East 104th and East 105th Streets, also included a brief civics lesson on how a bill becomes a law and a pop quiz with prizes for the young pupils.
Joe Fava, who teaches sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade math at Our Lady Queen of Angels, described the day as historic. “This is a great opportunity for them to be a part of something that we, sometimes, take for granted. We get to be a part of our legislative duty here in New York State. So it’s important that they’re all here, too.”
Representatives from both schools included students from the third through eighth grades.
Skylah Diaz, a seventh-grader at Queen of Angels, said her favorite part of the day was “hearing the speeches” from those “in high power,” particularly their messages “that we have a say in what’s going on.”
Suzanne Kaszynski, principal of Mount Carmel-Holy Rosary, was pleased her students were part of the democratic process and that they understand “how important this bill is for Catholic education and for education in general,” she said.
“They’re revved up today to show how excited they are about the passage of this bill. We hope our voices are going to be heard all the way in Albany.”
Perhaps some lively music made its way to the state capitol as well, courtesy of the honors violin ensemble of Mount Carmel-Holy Rosary, which kicked off the rally in good measure after taking center stage.
“It was a really fun time,” said eighth-grade ensemble member Ibraheim Hugie. “I want the bill to pass. I want everybody to have a great Catholic education” and the “opportunity to play” as a musician “like I do.”
