NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle Board of Education urged Congress and President Trump this week to continue two federal programs that help many children obtain health insurance and protect undocumented residents from deportation if their parents brought them to the United States when they were young.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was created in 1997 to provide coverage for children in families that did not qualify for Medicaid and could not afford private insurance. The program is credited with reducing the rate of uninsured children from 14 percent when it began, to 7 percent in 2012.
In late December, federal lawmakers passed a stopgap measure that funds CHIP through the first few months of 2018, but they have not reached a deal to permanently continue the program.
The board passed a resolution Tuesday calling for CHIP to be continued. A second resolution supported undocumented aliens protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, also known as Dreamers.
The DACA action reinforced a resolution passed by the board Oct. 3, after the Trump Administration announced that the program would be phased out. The program is set to expire March 5; anyone whose DACA protection would have ended before then had until Oct. 5 to apply for a two-year extension.
“The level of urgency ratchets up each and every day,” said Superintendent Dr. Brian Osborne.
“I’m proud of the fact that we are using our voice as a body,” said Board of Education Member Todd Kern as the board voted on both resolutions. “As often as we can, we should do this.”
In addition to making the board’s views known to key officials, Kern said, “We’re also communicating to folks in our community what it is that we value.”
The resolutions are being sent to: President Trump; U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions; key members of Congress; U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos; Westchester County Executive George Latimer; New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Dr. Betty Rosa; and New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia.
They are also being sent to the New York State School Boards Association and the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association.
Julia Muggia Ochs, President of the New Rochelle PTA Council, thanked the board for taking the actions.
“These two programs directly impact the health and security of many of our District’s students, and I thank you for advocating for them in this powerful way,” she said. “It is comforting to know that our Board of Education and District administration are doing all they can to support our families at the local, state, and national level.”