(The Journal News) A proposed tax deduction for parents who send their children to parochial and private schools promises to bring slight but widespread relief to thousands of families living in the East Ramapo school district.

Under Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s budget proposal, which was released last week, the state would spend $25 million to offer income-tax deductions of up to $1,000 per student for parents who pay tuition for their children to attend primary or secondary schools – including private schools, parochial schools and out-of-district public schools that require tuition. The deduction would be limited to families with annual incomes below $125,000.

The Sephardic Community Federation, a public policy foundation based in Brooklyn, has said that, with the deduction, eligible families would save between $60 and $80 per child annually on their state income tax returns.

If approved by the state Legislature, the deduction would provide a modicum of relief for nonpublic school families across Rockland, but nowhere would its effects be more palpable than in East Ramapo, where the number of parochial and private school students- about 17,000 total, according to figures – is nearly double that of the public school population.

Most of the district’s nonpublic school students attend Jewish schools and come from families that include an average of five children.

In Orthodox Jewish communities, as in other faiths, having many children is considered a blessing, Wizman said. But he said the traditionally large sizes of Orthodox Jewish families, coupled with the costs of parochial school tuition, amount to a significant financial burden.

With deductions determined on a per-child basis, the larger the family, the more it might stand to save.

At Yeshiva Bais Mikroh, an all-girls school in Monsey, Rabbi Shimon Rosengarten, the dean of the school, said that students there come from families of six or seven children each. Spitzer’s proposed deduction could certainly help them, he said.

“There are families that struggle to make ends meet, and whatever savings they could have would make a difference,” Rosengarten said.

Adam Morgenstern of Monsey, who has five children who attend Jewish schools, said that, in general, the deduction would serve only as a “Band-Aid” for families struggling with escalating property tax bills. But he added, “We would benefit greatly from any type of tax credit, rebate, anything that gives back to these families something, just something they can hold on to.

“For a family with several children in private school, the numbers begin to add up and it can really be a true savings for them,” said Aaron Troodler, the legislative director of the Sephardic Community Federation. But Troodler, who is also a Monsey resident, said the federation was focusing less on the proposed deduction’s immediate fiscal benefits and more on what it could mean for the future.

“It creates a framework where none existed before,” Troodler said. “We’re certainly hoping to build upon this and in the future make sure that parents receive the financial relief they desperately need.”

TJN