New York City Aids Private Religious Schools

Under state law, New York City must provide the same transportation for parochial school students as it gives to public school students (NY Educ. Law Sec. 3635). The New York Sun today reports that New York City Council has allocated $1 million out of this year's $15 billion school budget so Jewish day schools can buy their own busses to accommodate their longer school day. The city is routing the funds to schools through Agudath Israel of America. Last year, the city spent $2.5 million to put computers in Jewish and Catholic schools. And the city's Industrial Development Agency has made tax-exempt bonds available for financing construction at some local private and parochial schools. Critics, citing the chronically underfunded public school system, call the grants to religious schools "pork barrel" spending-- probably not the best choice of terms for the grants to Orthodox Jewish institutions. About a half million students in New York City attend private and parochial schools. Religious schools say they are saving the state money by keeping children out of the public school system.