Jewish parents of children of school age have organized a committee in the suburb of Chomedey to try to get financial support from the government of Quebec for Jewish day schools, it was announced here by Israel Aker-man, president of the new group, formed under the name of the Committee for Tax Supported Jewish Schools.
There are more than a dozen Jewish day schools in the Montreal area, Mr. Akerman said, with a total enrollment of about 4,000 students. He said the Jewish day schools are independent institutions providing essentially the same academic program as that given by the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal, At the same time, he pointed out, the Jewish day schools give courses in Jewish culture and religion. None of the Jewish schools, however, get government support.
“The parents who send their children to Jewish day schools, ” he stated, “must pay the full cost of their children’s religious and secular education. In addition, we pay school taxes like everyone else. It is our feeling that we should be reimbursed that amount which the state would pay if we sent our children to the state-supported schools.”
Mr. Akerman said that reimbursement to the Jewish parents could be made either by refunding the school taxes to the parents directly, or by subsidizing the Jewish day schools. “All we are asking for, ” he said, “is that providing education for our children not be more expensive for us than for other parents in Quebec.” The committee has 40 members. It is backed by the local sections of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and the Rabbinical Council of America.
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.
