New York’s small yeshivas and other religious schools would receive dollars for guards under new bill: ‘Grim new reality’

Small-town yeshivas and other religious schools would receive millions of taxpayer dollars each year to beef up security guards to combat growing hate threats, according to proposed new legislation.

Current law only funds such safety measures for nonpublic schools with more than 300 students, but a bill sponsored by Brooklyn Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan would expand coverage to all sites.

“This is a dark new reality,” said Maury Litwack, founder and CEO of Teach Coalition, which advocates for Jewish yeshivas and day schools.

“Hate crimes and harassment fueled by anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are at record levels, and our children deserve to be protected no matter where they go to school,” he said.

“This program has been successful and effective, but it needs to be expanded to ensure small schools are on a level playing field and get the resources they need to keep their students safe.” »

The city is authorized to spend up to $19.8 million under the current Large Nonpublic School Safety Grant program. Including small schools would likely double that bill, to nearly $40 million.

There are about 550 private and parochial schools with fewer than 300 students in the city that could benefit.

The city would reimburse schools for the cost of hiring security guards.

“There is nothing more important than keeping our children safe while they are in school,” Brannan said in a statement. “Expanding the Non-Public School Safety (NPS) Reimbursement Program to cover more schools and students just makes sense because we know the program works.

“This allows children to focus on their learning and provides parents and guardians with invaluable peace of mind in a topsy-turvy world.” Schools are a place of education, exploration and inspiration, without ever hatred, fear or violence,” said Pol.

“When it comes to keeping our children safe, the type of school building they learn in should make no difference. All children in New York City schools deserve to be safe.”

But not everyone agrees.

At a hearing on the bill last month, Beth Haroules of the New York Liberties Union blasted the current law and Brannan’s bill to expand it, calling them “a violation of separation Constitutional Law of Church and State” and called it “bad policy.”

Meanwhile, representatives of charter schools that don’t share space with traditional public schools said they want to be included in the program. Funding for security guards currently comes from the general budget of public and privately run schools.