Provide TAP to Students Attending Certain Institutions Not Under the State Education Department’s Direct Supervision. Currently, there are some income-eligible students who attend not-for-profit institutions of higher education that cannot receive TAP because their schools, although authorized by the State Education Department (SED) to offer post-secondary education, are not under SED’s direct supervision. The Executive Budget would effectively lift the statutory prohibition against providing TAP to otherwise income-eligible students at certain specialized faith-related institutions that primarily offer religious instruction or train members of the clergy. (2010-11 Cost: $12.8 million; 2011-12 Cost: $18.3 million)
The above passage is an interesting tidbit and it shows the nexus between budgeting and politics. What Gov. David Paterson wants to do is expand TAP or college tuition grants to students attending Orthodox Yeshivas which could, technically, be considered institutions of higher learning.
This stems from a campaign promise I’m told the governor made earlier in the month during a fundraiser in the upstate Orthodox enclave of Kiryas Joel. At the get-together, the governor told guests that he intended to put this in the budget, which would allow state tuition grants for Yeshiva students. Sure enough, here it is.
There are relatively few of these higher education Yeshivas that would qualify as colleges or universities: most of them are highly specialized and very small and informal, frequently based in the homes of prominent rabbis.
But the Orthodox community tends to vote in cohesive blocks, and through this promise, the governor could be attempting to lock up a small but reliable group of voters and fund raisers.
The $12.8 million that Paterson wants for this isn’t a huge sum, but it’s notable given its one of the few areas where he’s not looking to make a cut.