Gov. Rockefeller Supporting Blaine Amendment Repeal; State Aid May Total $15-20 Million

Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller forecast yesterday that the State Legislature would earmark funds for private religious school aid this year. Although he did not name a specific sum. it reportedly would be some $15-20,000.000 for the fiscal year beginning April 1. Gov. Rockefeller has spoken out for repeal of the Blaine Amendment which prohibits parochial school aid, in order to expand state contributions. But he said yesterday he would not endorse sectarian subsidies that violated the constitution or Jumped the gun on a study under way by the Commission on the Quality, Cost and Financing of Elementary and Secondary Education, Most Jewish organizations have bitterly assailed the move to repeal the Blaine Amendment while Orthodox Jewish groups have welcomed the repeal moves. The Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (PEARL) has predicted that the repeal of the amendment would cost taxpayers billions of dollars a year in support of religious schools.

Meanwhile, in Annapolis, M.D., state superintendent of schools James A. Sensenbaugh said a proposed $12,000,000 grant to private schools next year was “fraught with dangers” and should be defeated. He stated that of some 135 private schools established in Maryland since the Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation ruling, “a number” were opened in deliberate avoidance of integration. Approval of the grant, he charged, would encourage additional avoidance. Those backing the grant, mainly Catholic and orthodox Jewish schools, denied Sensenbaugh’s allegations and said that without the grant they would be subject to “chaos” resulting from an exodus of 100,000 of their 140,000 students to public schools. The state general assembly began hearings on the issue yesterday. Gov. Marvin Mandel, is awaiting a commission report before taking a position, but the report is not expected until after the November elections and the legislature ends its session March 31.