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December 22, 2005
Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
Applauds Passage by Senate
of Federal Aid to
All Schools (Public, Private & Parochial) that
Have Taken in Hurricane Displaced
Students and to
Restart Affected Schools; Commends Senators Enzi, Kennedy,
Alexander & Dodd, Rep. Boehner and
Pres. Bush & Secy. Spellings; Package will
Deliver Millions of Dollars To K-12
Schools
The Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America applauds final
passage of a bipartisan proposal to provide federal aid for
schools - including non-public (including parochial) schools -
which have taken in students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
After weeks of intensive negotiations and discussions in which
the Orthodox Union participated, a modified version of the
proposal which passed the Senate last month was included in the
final appropriations package passed by the U.S. Senate last
night (after House passage earlier this week) before its
probable adjournment for the year. (The House is expected to
give final passage to the appropriations package later today.)
Under the bill’s provisions, enacting a proposal first put
forward by President Bush and championed by Secy. of Education
Spellings – forged after weeks of intensive negotiations among
the Senators and House leaders and in which the Orthodox Union
and other private school advocates intimately participated --
all K-12 schools can receive up to $6000 per displaced student.
Under this law, federal funds would be disbursed by the states
to nonpublic schools via accounts set up for each displaced
student the school has taken in. In November, the original
Enzi-Kennedy proposal on this matter was adopted by the Senate
as an amendment to that body’s Budget Reconciliation legislation
over the bitter opposition of the National Education Association
and other opponents of public aid, under any circumstances, to
private and parochial schools.
Nathan J. Diament, public policy director for the Union, issued
the following statement after the Senate’s final passage of the
appropriations bill:
The Orthodox Jewish community applauds Congress’ action to
deliver federal aid to the thousands of schools that have taken
in and are caring for children displaced by Katrina & Rita. We
commend Senators Enzi and Kennedy and their colleagues for their
leadership in the Senate and ensuring that this much needed
relief (ensuring the equitable and religiously sensitive
treatment of parochial schools) was contained in the
appropriations package. We commend the President and Secretary
Spellings for working the issue intensively as well as House
Chairman Boehner and the House leadership. The Orthodox Jewish
community is very pleased that those who sought to cruelly
exclude non-public schools and families from this program saw
their discriminatory views repudiated. This program will likely
deliver more than $1.5 million in aid to Jewish schools which
took in students displaced by Katrina and Rita and millions more
to other K-12 schools. We are thankful for this much needed
relief being passed.
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