This past Wednesday, the seventh and eighth graders at Westchester Torah Academy had the privilege to participate in NYS Teach: Virtual Mission to Albany, along with a number of other day schools on behalf of Teach NYS. Students heard from state-wide politicians and met in a separate breakout room with Joanne Sold, chief of staff to local Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, to advocate for more funding for non-public schools. They spoke about the fact that 14.3% of all children in New York State go to private schools, but sadly, private schools only benefit from less than 1% of all government funding.

Teach NYS gave all private schools in the state the opportunity to speak about STEAM, PE and security programs, and how government funds can be used to help with these important matters. Many students spoke about how we could use the money to enable better school security or about how the world is evolving around technology; the seventh and eighth graders spoke about how STEAM skills will be important to learn in the coming years, and how we could use funding to help with what we learn in STEAM. They also discussed how important it is to fund PE, because physical education is critical for children, and funding would allow us to purchase new equipment to have a better gym period.

Students also heard from local State Senator Shelley Mayer. The senator spoke about the value of making their voices heard. The program then concluded with a message from New York Governor Kathy Hochul. The government has heard the students’ voices, and the legislators are trying to increase the government’s funding to non-public schools.