The Lawrence school board, dominated by parents who send their children to private schools, has learned an important lesson. Taxpayer money must be spent in accordance with state law.
A state Supreme Court judge in Albany has upheld an August ruling by state Education Commissioner Richard Mills barring the district from providing bus service to private schools for pre-kindergarten students. The busing dispute is just one of the many divisive fights in a school district influenced by a rapidly growing population of Orthodox Jewish families, who prefer to educate their children in yeshivas.
Now a majority of the district’s more than 7,000 students, mostly from the Lawrence and Woodmere communities, fall into the private-school camp. Not surprisingly, the parents who are paying both taxes and tuition want services from the district that support their choice.
That’s why the board authorized spending $465,000 this school year to bus 275 of the young private-school students, despite the state’s saying that was an unauthorized expense. The state allows busing to public pre-school programs, which are attended by about 135 children in Lawrence.
The district, which has lost each round of this fight, should avoid pandering to its supporters with another costly appeal. That would only further undermine confidence in the school board and its ability to carry out its primary mission: fostering public education.
(Source: Newsday)
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6 Responses
We should use public education services appropriately as permitted by law, such as for our special needs students or for authorized transportation services (which does not seem to include preschool in NYS). We shouldn’t try to grab what’s not rightfully ours. Remember that we choose to send our kids to yeshiva. We should be happy that we have the opportunity to give our kids a Torah education, even if there is financial hardship involved.
I would paraphrase the last sentence of the commentary to read:
Commmissioner Mills his Department should stop pandering to their allies, which only further undermines confidence in the Education Department and its ability to carry out its primary mission: providing education to citizens of this state.
You shouldn’t even bother posting articles from Newsday – they couldn’t possibly be more inaccurate or anti-semitic. (There’s no need to look past snide first sentence of the article to see that.)
Then, the article suggests that the board defied the “state’s” directives: “That’s why the board authorized spending $465,000 this school year to bus 275 of the young private-school students, despite the state’s saying that was an unauthorized expense.” Does Newsday really expect anyone to believe that the board authorized spending “despite the state’s saying it was unauthorized”?
The reality is that the board authorized spending after a majority of voters supported it (and the state was made aware of the vote, but did not oppose it). Spending was authorized for a transportation program that previously existed in the district without any local or “state” opposition and which still continues to exist in other school districts without any “state” opposition. As soon as the “state” ruled that it was “unauthorized”, the district abided by the ruling and stopped providing this service.
Looks like the people at Newsday would rather distort the facts to promote their (anti-Orthodox) agenda than accurately disseminate the news. But why help them promote that agenda here?
The Lawrence oylam should move to Lakewood, where busing is provided to private schools free of charge. Agav, the only problem is they wouldn’t get their kids into any of our schools, but thats besides the point.
that is pretty gishmak
Please Remove Comment number 4 unless you want an all out war……….
Moderators Note: He was J-O-K-I-N-G.