TEACH NYS director David Greenfield applauded today the $500,000 in security grants earmarked by the New York State Senate to private religious schools. The awards of $20,000 per eligible school are critical to ensuring that private school children are able to learn in the safest environments possible. TEACH NYS, the only organization that exclusively advocates for parents of private school children, led a coalition that included Agudath Israel, the Sepahrdic Community Federation and the Catholic Conference in successfully advocating for these funds.
 
Nothing is more important than ensuring the safety of our children.” said TEACH NYS director David Greenfield, “in a post 9/11 world we need to ensure that every single school, whether public or private, has the best possible security paid for by the city and state.”

In applauding the security grant, TEACH NYS recognized the work of New York State Senator Martin Golden and members of the State Senate Republican Conference including Senators Maltese, Padavan and Lanza for earmarking these grants. These Senators have long been leaders in providing students of private schools with as much government funding as possible. At least eight yeshivas have already been selected, based on need, to receive these security funds including Chasidishe, Litvishe & Sephardic yeshivas.  For security reasons, TEACH NYS is not releasing a list of the exact yeshivas that will receive this funding because many of them do not have any security systems now.

The hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding can be used for things like security cameras, door buzzers, concrete planters and blast-proof windows and doors. All of these items will improve the safety and security of our children. Many yeshivas are having difficulty paying for the increased costs of securing yeshivas and are welcoming these government funds.
 
“Brouch Hashem, by working together we were able to bring back much needed resources to our community,” Greenfield explained. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. We will continue working until government covers its fair share of the total cost of yeshiva education.”
 
TEACH NYS is the umbrella group that advocates on behalf of the parents of 500,000 private school children in New York State. TEACH NYS is responsible for the $600,000,000 annual tax credit for school children that provides annual tax relief to tens of thousands of yeshiva parents.

(YWN Desk – NYC)