NYC to spend $20m for security at private schools

Many New York Jewish private schools and yeshivas to receive security guards after new bill signed into law

By JTA 7 January 2016, 8:43 am

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Young ultra-Orthodox Jewish schoolgirls in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. (Serge Attal/Flash90)

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a bill providing up to $20 million for security at non-public schools.

The measure that de Blasio signed Tuesday will help “keep our communities safer,” he said, according to several New York media outlets.

Approved overwhelmingly last month by the City Council, the law is expected to benefit New York’s many yeshivas and Jewish day schools, along with other private and parochial schools. It has drawn criticism from the New York Civil Liberties Union, whose leaders have said it violates the Constitution’s separation of church and state.

Councilman David Greenfield, a Brooklyn Democrat whose district includes heavily Jewish neighborhoods, introduced the bill last year.

It provides funding for a security guard at private schools with more than 300 students. Private schools with more than 500 students will receive an additional guard.

The Orthodox Union advocated heavily for the bill.

“Now more than ever, with families increasingly concerned about security, all kids deserve a safe learning environment, and this bill helps provide that,” said Maury Litwack, director of state political affairs for the Orthodox Union.