A White House aide told a meeting of Jewish educators that assistance to non-public schools will be a top priority in the next Ford Administration. According to David Lissy, associate director of President Ford’s Domestic Council and White House liaison with the Jewish community, “The President feels strongly that non-public schools should be eligible to receive federal monies, and the next Ford Administration will give this matter major attention. Perhaps this aid could be worked out through tax programs or other mechanisms.”
The meeting yesterday at the Roosevelt Hotel. was attended by a large, wide-ranging group of educators, including administrators of the Board of Jewish Education of New York, Torah Umesorah and principals of Hasidic schools and other yeshivot, as well as day schools run by the Solomon Schechter movement.
“The Jewish community is not getting its fair share of available federal aid,” Lissy said. “It is entitled to such aid, but is not getting it because it has not been aggressive enough. There are about 30 programs whose eligibility includes non-public schools, among them programs for the handicapped, disadvantaged, and low income communities with problems.”
Lissy said that a review of current regulations and procedures for delivery of aid to non-public schools was projected for the next Ford Administration. A government-sponsored workshop to deal with these problems was also planned.
TERMS MEETING UNIQUE, HISTORIC
George Klein, a national coordinator of the Ford campaign, who chaired the meeting, said: “The convening of a meeting devoted to Jewish education and its problems under White House auspices is unique and historic. Education is the backbone of the Jewish community and a key to its future. Bipartisan support is needed to help meet the problems of non-public schools.”
Klein said that the meeting with Jewish educators is a continuation of Ford’s concern with problems of the Jewish community, “which was demonstrated during his visit earlier this month to Flatbush and Borough Park in Brooklyn.
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