By Jeff Lipton
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled on a specific case in Cleveland, but the ruling could open the door for other states such as New York to follow suit.
I think it's a major decision for the country, said Rabbi Simcha Lefkowitz, an administrator at Yeshiva Toras Chaim of South Shore in Hewlett. I think this is an issue that goes beyond religion. It's a matter of school choice.
We hope New York State would be able to have a school voucher plan. It would benefit everybody in the school. It would give our parents the ability to use vouchers to pay tuition, which is a very big part of their expenses for these families.
He said he would not call the tuition a burden for these families because it's their choice to send their children to a religious school. But vouchers would help defray expenses for them.
New York still faces an uphill battle to get a voucher system in place, with many saying the state would have to amend its constitution to bring vouchers here because the state prohibits the use of public funds for private or parochial schools.
Supporters of vouchers said it would give parents a choice about where to send their children for an education, especially in areas where public schools are failing. Opponents of vouchers said that under the plan money would be taken away from public schools, where it is needed most.
[This] ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court is an attack on already financially-starved public schools, said Thomas Y. Hobart Jr., president of New York State United Teachers.
However, just because the Supreme Court has ruled that the Cleveland voucher experiment is constitutional doesn't mean that vouchers make sound education policy or are a magic bullet for helping students to learn. They are not a panacea for what ails public schools. In fact, there is absolutely no objective research to show that vouchers work to raise student achievement. There is, however, an abundance of evidence demonstrating that vouchers siphon already scarce resources from public schools.
Hobart added, The court's ruling appears to open the door for children already attending private or religious schools to receive vouchers paid for with tax dollars. In this time of scarce resources for public education, it's bad policy to drain even more money from public schools and give it to parents who already are paying to send their children to private or religious schools.
But Yotav Eliach, principal of Rambam Mesivta High School for Boys in Lawrence, said many believe under a voucher system, when there is competition for public funds, it can only force public schools to improve. They will have to work harder.
He added that vouchers would have little impact on Orthodox Jewish families in the Five Towns or Nassau County; its greatest impact would be felt in minority communities and inner cities, where public schools are not as successful.
Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum, the new spiritual leader of Temple Israel of Lawrence, said he is not in favor of school vouchers because he believes the public funds are desperately needed to improve public schools. I want to see the public school system maintained, Rabbi Rosenbaum said. My main problem in terms of a voucher system: Everyone has a responsibility to pay taxes and support the public school system. I am not at this point directly benefiting from the public school system, but I know it's my obligation to support the system.
