PEARL, the Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty, said today that yesterday’s 41 to 15 vote in the State Senate in favor of a bill to repeal the “Blaine Amendment,” has prompted them to mount a campaign to defeat the “Parent-Aid” bill, currently in both houses of the state legislature. The repeal bill, now in the State Assembly, is expected to pass there also. The “Parent-Aid” bill proposes direct financial aid to the parents of parochial school children. William Haddad, Executive Co-Chairman of PEARL and a member of the Governing Board of the American Jewish Congress, told the JTA that the action in the State Senate to repeal the 76-year-old constitutional ban on state aid to non-public schools, “gave a false sense of power to those groups that are trying to get state monies for religious schools.” Because of this, he said, PEARL would attempt to actively educate the public to the “dangers” of several measures before the state legislature, including the “Parent-Aid” bill, that are attempting to “get around” the constitutional ban on state-aid to non-public schools.
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