A critical analysis of the Johnson Administration’s education aid bill, sponsored by six national Jewish organizations and 25 local Jewish community councils, was transmitted to every Representative and Senator in Congress today, as the House-approved measure neared a vote in the Senate.
Reiterating arguments previously stated by various Jewish organizations, the analysis asserted that the Administration bill combined federal aid to public schools with aid to private and parochial schools, and thus threatened to impair “the constitutional guarantees of separation of church and state.” The analysis stressed the need for an amendment to the bill to permit challenge to proposals considered controversial, and warned that if the bill was passed without such a provision. “appropriations will be made and monies spent in a way that may well be unconstitutional.”
Many Orthodox Jewish groups, particularly those connected with Jewish education programs, support the measure. There were no Orthodox groups among the signers of the analysis. The national groups that sponsored the statement were the American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans, National Council of Jewish Women, Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the United Synagogue of America.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
