N.c.j.w. Convention Opposes Government Aid to Religious Schools

The convention of the National Council of Jewish Women which is taking place here today issued a plea against granting Government aid to private and religious schools, emphasizing that such aid “would undermine the very foundations of public education in the United States. “

A statement adopted by over 800 delegates, representing 123.000 council members in 329 affiliated local units, declared that proposals for Federal aid to religious schools are based on the same reasoning as Governmental aid to parents who do not wish to send their children to desegregated schools. “There is no difference in these approaches. ” added the women’s group whose membership represents across section of all shades of American Jewish belief.

“The public educational system has always been based on the concept that the state must provide for the education of children in Government-sponsored schools, open to all,” the statement said. “Today, in a confusing shift of approach, it is being argued that the Government’s obligation is to aid the child being educated, whether in public or private schools. It is urgent to help keep the issue clear in our own communities. While parents have a right to choose private education it is not the Government’s business to subsidize private preference.”

The Council noted that “it is in the public school that children of diverse national origins, religions and races learn to know each other and get along together,” and that “the public school is where the fundamental American principle of separation of church and state has its most significant application.”

Dr. Solomon B. Freehof, president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, addressed the convention this morning. Rabbi Freehof praised the council for its community service and social action programs which, he said, reflect the Jewish belief that “the world has a basic meaning, which human beings can embody in their public work as in their private lives.”