How Public Money Goes to Support a Hasidic Village’s Private Schools
Jay Root of The New York Times reports that Kiryas Joel, a public school district exclusively for Hasidic children with disabilities, has received substantial state and federal funding. Critics object to the district’s appropriation of funds to lease buildings from a private religious organization. Members of the school board also sit on that group’s board. Marc Stern, general counsel for the American Jewish Committee, said, “When you deal with small, sealed-off groups, these sorts of abuses do occur. There’s less of a check. And so it’s not surprising that it developed this way.”