By Rebecca Shalomoff
Last Tuesday night's meeting, which drew close to 400 people, began with a personal statement by board member Dr. Asher Mansdorf. He responded to comments made at a previous meeting by Cedarhurst resident Michael Herzog, who suggested that aid to religious schools seemed to undermine the same Democratic principles that came under attack when the World Trade Center was attacked by fundamentalist terrorists on Sept. 11.
The separation of Church and State is not mentioned in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, Mansdorf said. Religious freedoms are based on the right of free speech promulgated in the First Amendment. Should the fire department not extinguish a fire if a local church is ablaze? As taxpayers, every member of the district is entitled to services provided by the government. Those of you who applauded are as guilty as he is of ignorance of the law and disdain for our Constitution and the rulings of our Supreme Court.
At the Nov. 20 meeting, Herzog raised the question about the financial relationship that exists between the Lawrence Public Schools and the non-public schools, which are attended by nearly half of the District 15 students.
I don't mind paying taxes for public purposes, Herzog said at the time. What concerns me, if the information that I have is correct, and I am not sure but I believe it is correct, is that this district spends a substantial amount of money above the state-mandated amounts for non-public schools.
About 50 percent, or 3,500, of the students living in District 15 attend non-public schools.
At the Dec. 4 meeting, district administrators released numbers concerning funds allocated for non-public school students. They said $5.7 million out of the $78.2 million budget is targeted for non-public school expenditures this year, of which $1.1 million, or 19 percent, could be categorized as non-mandated.
The total budget devoted exclusively to public school expenditures is $72.5 million, of which $23 million, or 32 percent, could be categorized as non-mandated.
If we chose to live by a standard that dictates only providing our students with that which is mandated by law, our public school students would suffer to a far greater degree than our non-public school students, superintendent Dr. Mark Rosenbaum said. If our residents truly believe that our district should be providing programs and services at the minimum allowable state mandated level, they need to know what a barren school district this would be for every child.
It is my sincere hope that by
looking at the reality of the numbers,
this particular argument will stop, here and now, he added. The financial
challenges we face provide a perfect opportunity for our entire community
to get back to the business of working together on behalf of all of our students. Our Mission Statement calls upon
the district to be
