Today, the Orthodox Union, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, commended the New York State Legislature for passage of a deficit reduction plan that rejected all planned cuts to nonpublic schools, including yeshivas and Jewish day schools. Governor Paterson’s proposal called for a ten percent reduction in mandated services reimbursement, in millions of dollars.

Howie Beigelman, OU Deputy Director of Public Policy, stated:

“We thank the Legislature, especially the leadership, Speaker Silver, Leader Sampson and Leader Skelos, for their efforts at ensuring that nonpublic schools – including Jewish day schools and yeshivas – are not unfairly burdened in this economic downturn. Asking parents and schools to take this cut now would have been disastrous.”

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