Six Jewish Groups Insist on Barring N.Y. State Aid to Religious Schools

Six member agencies of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York today called for retention of the state constitutional provision that bars public funds for religious schools.

The six groups, in a joint statement, declared their opposition to proposals at the State Constitutional Convention for amending the provision in the State Constitution which forbids the state to use its credit or money to aid or maintain “directly or indirectly…any school or institution wholly or in part under the control or direction of any religious denomination, or in which any denominational tenet or doctrine is taught.”

Voting for retention of this provision were the New York sections of the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Jewish Labor Committee, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Federation of Reform Synagogues, and the United Synagogue of America. The dissenting organization was the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. In a separate statement, the Orthodox group said it “favors the use of public funds for the benefit of all children of school age, whether students of public or religious day schools, to the fullest extent compatible with the separation of church and state as guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.”

Four other members of the Jewish Community Relations Council did not participate in the meeting at which the issue was discussed. They were: The Brooklyn Jewish Community Council, Hadassah, the Jewish War Veterans, and the Labor Zionist Organization.

The six Jewish groups that urged retention of the present bar against public funds for parochial schools warned that any change in the present provision would result in a “significant undermining of church-state separation.” Such a development, the majority statement declared, “would inevitably be followed by further legislative, judicial and administrative action resulting in the destruction of this vital protection for religious liberty.”

While opposing public support of parochial schools, the six agencies comprising the Council majority said they supported the “right of any parents to send their children to sectarian rather than to public schools.” “At the same time,” the statement added, “we firmly believe that sectarian education has been, should and can be supported by religious groups without the use of funds raised by public taxation. Any public support of religion by the state holds dangers for both religion and the state.”