Since New York City established its Non-Public School Security Reimbursement Program in 2015, private schools, including religious ones, with enrollments of at least 300 students could apply for reimbursement from the city for the cost of security guards. On Thursday, the New York City Council passed legislation expanding the program to schools with at least 150 students.
The council also increased the total amount that the program could pay out per school year by about 75%, from $19.8 million to $35 million, said Justin Brannan, a council member who sponsored the legislation.
“This bill was a no-brainer. Our No. 1 job in government is to keep people safe,” Brannan said on Thursday at a press conference outside City Hall in Manhattan.
“These are uncertain times and parents should be unafraid to send their kids to school,” he added. “We need to ensure parents have peace of mind, that when they send their kids to school, they can learn in peace and security.”
Jewish organizations welcomed the legislation.
“UJA-Federation of New York applauds the City Council for passing 532-A, which will create a safer, more secure learning environment for all students,” Daniel Rosenthal, vice president for government relations at the Federation, told JNS. “This legislation sends the strong message that our elected officials will take necessary and critical steps to protect our schools and our communities.”
Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, director of New York government relations at Agudath Israel of America, told JNS schools with smaller enrollments “struggle financially since they have a lower tuition base and a lower donor base, so it makes it even doubly difficult to financially afford security.”
“We are a resource for schools, and the issue of security funding for Jewish schools has been one of the biggest issues we have gotten requests to help with,” he told JNS. “We’ve heard from schools, who had to make choices of whether to fund educational enhancements or security, and it’s not a choice you want to have to make.”
An estimated 75 Jewish schools, which have a combined 15,000 students, will now be eligible to apply for funding under the new legislation, according to Silber.
“Every child is obviously entitled to be in a safe school environment, and this law will make a tremendous difference to many schools and thousands of students that will now be able to participate in this program and get reimbursed for the cost of providing security guards,” he said.
Yoni Schwab is a clinical psychologist and assistant head of school at the Shefa School, a 10-year-old Jewish day school in Manhattan that serves students with learning disabilities. The school, which started with 24 students, has grown its enrollment to 225.
“We are a school for kids with disabilities, so we are never going to be a school of 1,000 students, like some other schools,” he told JNS. “This is 2024, and we need to have security in order for everyone to be safe and so having an artificial cut-off of 300 students to get support with that kind of funding was just not doable.”
“Obviously budgets are always tight and the less money we can spend on paying security guards, we can then spend more on educating our students which is just good for the world,” he told JNS.
Security is necessary for Jewish schools throughout the United States, not just in New York, according to Schwab.
“Families need to be protected, bus drivers need to be protected and our students are visibly Jewish and so they’re walking out into Manhattan, and we want them to be proud of their Jewish identity,” he said. “But they need to be safe in order to do that.”
“We see that unfortunately school shootings are a problem, and we see antisemitic violence as a problem, so we appreciate the City Council taking this issue seriously,” he added.