NY Education Commissioner Criticizes Religious School Funding–Then TRIPLES It
by Jake Jacobs
Originally posted at: https://truthagainstthemachine.com/index.php/2017/05/15/ny-education-commissioner-criticizes-religious-school-funding-triples/
New York Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia rescinded approval of the East Ramapo school district’s budget after she discovered it included five days worth of funding for busing students to private religious schools. She then traveled to the district to discuss the budget behind closed doors, where she ultimately approved funding for fourteen days of the busing, at a cost of about $1.4 million dollars.
This is only the latest dust-up in the continuing saga of the embattled East Ramapo school district, where affiliates of a large Hasidic community have controlled the school board for years. For the uninitiated, NPR unpacked the fascinating story in a 2014 episode of This American Life, but the short version is that about 24,000 East Ramapo students attend private yeshivas while public schools hold only about 8,500 students. The Hasidic community is so densely populated in the district they have dominated school board elections and slashed funding for public schools, shifting tax dollars to cover private school expenses and even closed public schools, only to sell the properties to the yeshivas at deep discounts.
The actions of the school board, usually carried out in secret, have been considered detrimental to public education, so the NY state legislature and education department stepped in, appointing outside monitors and oversight of school board activities. But now local parents say the monitors and the education commissioner are part of the problem.
Parent groups and school board candidates are circulating a petition calling for Commissioner Elia to step down after her flip-flop-flip on the latest proposed budget.
Because of East Ramapo’s unique monitor law, Elia has to approve the school budget proposal. She did so last month, apparently without reading it. Two days Badass Teachers Association: NY Education Commissioner Criticizes Religious School Funding–Then TRIPLES It by Jake Jacobs: