City Hall – Council Member Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) criticized a proposal to eliminate transportation services to nonpublic school students saying that the long-term costs to the Department of Education would far outweigh any short-term cost benefits.
“The bottom line is that students in nonpublic schools save the City hundreds of millions of dollars each year,” said Councilman Felder. “We should be finding more ways to help these students and to keep these schools open, because when they close, the burden shifts directly to the City.”
The proposal to eliminate transportation services for nonpublic schools is part of the New York City Independent Budget Office’s annual “Budget Options for New York City” report, which outlines potential cost savings to the City. As acknowledged by the report, such a cut would require a change in state law.
Paul Lynch of the Archdiocese of New York, shared Felder’s sentiments: “The Department of Education has been so wonderful in working with us to ensure equitable treatment in transportation. Anyone wishing to do any harm to that relationship would also be doing harm to the City and children in nonpublic schools.”
Transportation Committee Chair John Liu (D-Queens) stated: “The City assumes responsibility for transporting kids to and from school. That should not be denied of families who choose to send their children to private schools at their own expense. We are still a City that insists on ensuring every kid gets to and from school, and gets to and from school safely.”
Felder added that the city’s hopes for short-term gains are blinding it to the long-term costs. The average cost to educate each public school student is over $15,000. By eliminating busing for nonpublic school students, parents of these children will be inclined to send their children to public schools, the cost of which far outweighs the cost of transportation services.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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7 Responses
Time to register all the kids in the public school system to show the city what the “strain” would really be!
I can’t believe they would cut school buses for private schools. Where can we complain?? This is a very serious issue. First they want to fine parents for idling in front of a school for more then a minute. Now they want to take away buses. I get it, they think if parents can afford to send their children to public school, they can afford to pay the fines that they will be forced to pay, when the school buses are taken away. Are they really trying to keep people from leaving NYC??
You got it mr. Levin. I have always been saying that. I got a public school across the street and a yeshiva around the corner. I wonder if that public school can handle another 1,000 students.
so let’s hear it for higher taxes and and more earmarks
One might ask why ANY students in New York City, except a few parts of Staten Island, need transportation, but that’s a different issue
I think the city is a 100 precent right we all pay for transpotation so they dont need to provide for the school’s transpotation except if the school’S want to stop to ask so much money.
if they stopped transportation to yeshivas,than the private jewish bus companies,would rake it in.so you see,there are 2 sides to the coin. One person’s garbage,is the other person’s gold.
Now Felder cares abnout yeshivas, where was he when the cost doubled in the last 2 years, was he building parks? The fact is that Bloomberg and Felder and tied at the hip, so he knew about this long ago (before term limits debacle) also we should send our kids to public schools but the Rabbanim MUST get involved first. Felder is the chair of the garbage committee so he has no say anyway