New York Governor David Paterson�s proposed budget for 2009-2010 includes cuts that will have substantial impact on nonpublic schools in the state, including yeshivos and day schools.

The proposal�s reductions in aid to the state�s public schools amount to 3.3% of current allocations, but the proposed changes that will affect nonpublic schools amounts to fully 44% of current aid.

That aid largely comes from the Comprehensive Attendance Program (CAP), which requires schools to keep careful records of students� attendance of classes and to have policies in place to deal with absences and truancy.� The state is required by law to reimburse nonpublic schools for costs associated with implementation of the CAP policy.

The governor�s proposed budget would eliminate CAP entirely, which would deprive New York nonpublic schools of more than $54 million dollars of constitutionally permitted aid.� What is more, reimbursement for other mandated services � for which the nonpublic schools should be entitled to $87.5 million � would also be limited by the governor�s budget to approximately $80 million, only 92% of the schools� actual costs.

Thus, the total loss nonpublic schools would suffer as a result of Governor Paterson�s proposed cuts in the mandated services and CAP programs would exceed $60 million.� As Jewish school students represent some 23% of the state�s total nonpublic school population, the total loss to New York State yeshivos would be approximately $15 million.
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Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Agudath Israel of America�s incoming executive vice president, expressed grave concern for the implications of the proposed budget.� �If the budget Governor Paterson is proposing is ratified by the legislature,� he said, �our community�s educational institutions, already under severe strain from the larger economic downturn, will be deprived of what, for many of them, is a major part of their own operating budgets.�

Agudath Israel, he continued, intends to �explore every avenue� in the hope of staving off the proposed cuts.

Among those avenues is reaching out to the governor to make the case for retaining CAP; making the legal case for the state�s obligation to reimburse mandated services fully; and working with the state legislature and Board of Regents to prevent the cuts.

In the interim, Agudath Israel�s director of education affairs, Mrs. Deborah Zachai, participated Wednesday in one of a series of ongoing education workshops in Brooklyn that her office had organized for representatives of New York City yeshivos and day schools; close to 90 administrators attended Wednesday�s workshop.� The Agudath Israel representative apprised administrators of the recent developments and their potential impact.

Says Mrs. Zachai: �The news was met with deep disappointment and concern, as you might expect.

�But there was an understanding, too, that what we have to do at this time is make whatever hishtadlus we can to prevent the cuts from coming to pass.� The yeshiva community is fully committed to doing whatever is necessary in this regard.�

(YWN Desk – NYC)