Gov. Cuomo, Cardinal Dolan push for tax break for school donations

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There is a new push to give parents more choices when it comes to their children's education.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced a proposal that would provide $150 million annually in education tax credits.

There's only a month to go in Albany before the end of this year's legislative session, but Governor Cuomo and Cardinal Dolan are now pushing for the tax break to help parochial schools.

And the teachers union doesn't like it.

The governor and cardinal made their pitch Tuesday on Long Island and in Buffalo, that anybody making gifts to parochial or public schools would then get a break on their taxes in the form of a tax credit.

Also, some of the new money would be earmarked for scholarships for low-income students.

"I think it's a very powerful message," said Cuomo. "I think it's right. I think it's fair. I think it's bi-partisan."

"I feel this could really help a lot of people who are in my situation where they didn't have the financial funds and now with this bill passed it could help a lot of people," said Catholic school student Steven Portillo.

"This issue is logical and so compelling," Cardinal Dolan said "It's gonna cost nobody anything. It's not going to take any money away from our public schools, in fact, it's gonna help them as well and all it's going to do is give us a level playing field."

This issue has come up before but many Democrats in the Assembly are against the idea of tax breaks for religious schools, fearing that it could hurt public schools, even though this new law would now include tax breaks on donations to public schools as well.