Quebec Jewish Schools Seek to Qualify for Government Financial Aid

Negotiations will begin shortly to make Jewish day schools in Montreal eligible for Quebec governmental aid covering most of the per pupil costs of education in the schools under a new provincial law, Jewish education officials here said today. The new law permits private educational institutions to be affiliated with the “public” school systems, through coordination of activities and finances. Under the confessional system of elementary and secondary education in Quebec, “public” schools are either under Protestant or Catholic auspices.

Under the new law, qualified schools are eligible for provincial financing by public funds and school bus transportation for pupils living a mile or more from the school. The aid does not cover Hebrew or religious instruction in such private Jewish schools. However, only about five percent of teaching is in the non-secular category of Jewish day schools which provide Hebrew or religious courses, education officials said.

The Jewish People’s Schools, the Jewish Peretz Schools, the Rabbinical College of Canada and the Beth Jacob School for Girls have applied to the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal for affiliation and more schools are expected to follow suit soon. There are about 5,00 children attending Jewish day schools in Montreal. The Jewish day schools are following the pattern of the United Talmud Torah Elementary School of Chomedey, which reached an agreement earlier this month with the Protestant School Board of Greater San Martin.

Under terms of the law, qualified day schools will receive $350 grants per pupil annually for elementary and secondary school levels. The requirement that Hebrew studies and religious instruction will still have to be financed by the parents is not a problem, according to Dr. Samuel Lewin, associate director of education for the Canadian Jewish Congress, because the principal financial burden stems from secular courses.