ZachKessin: well, actually the catholics are irish and italian, not many of them left in the city. pocket still in staten island, marine park, and bensonhurst. most other “christian” worshipers are of protestant type faiths. also, the ny archdiocese covers 10 counties, that is 7 more then in nyc, because brooklyn and queens fall under the brooklyn dioceses.
ther are over 170 yeshivas alone in brooklyn! lets say each has 750 students, taht would give us 127,500 students in brooklyn alone, almost all living within 2-3 school districts, while the diocese of brooklyn and queens only has 56,000 kids, living all over the place. for instance, i have met kids living in canarsie who went to Xavier High School in bensonhurst. we migh have a yeshiva in bensonhurts, but the kids will all come from midwood, borough park, mill basin, marine park, and kensington. and btw, that number is heavily low balled. most yeshivas have over a thousand kids. now you see why the catholics cant do this. schools are not like the other charities the diocese runs. their nursing homes and such, these would have been a hardship on the city. if they shut their schools, it will add around 30 kids at most to a public school, as kids dont come from centralized locations. if 127,500+ kids needed to go into 15 neighborhood schools, and i dont think there are that many in our neighborhoods, we are talking 8500 kids per school. exactly how will they do that? they cant, and wont!
as far as the legality, im not sure people here know this, but the city does have a voucher plan already, for low income families in grades k-4. it is working very well. so there is clearly no problem.
zach, this is the only way to force the state to pass vouchers.