Kiryas Joel, NY – The region’s smallest school district will get more federal aid than any other in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties under the formulas used to distribute education funding in the impending economic stimulus package.
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Excluding the school construction funding that has largely been dropped from the plan, the Kiryas Joel School District, which serves about 280 special-education students and has a roughly $13 million budget this year, will get $6.3 million in stimulus money over two years, according to aid figures provided by Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office.
By comparison, the projected funding totals, minus construction money, for the area’s two largest districts will be $5.5 million for Newburgh, which has an enrollment of roughly 12,230, and $2 million for Monroe-Woodbury, which serves more than 7,500 students.
The explanation for that disparity lies in federal education programs that would drive the funding: Title I, which is for low-income students; and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which is for special-education students.
Targeting the aid that way inevitably directs an inordinate share to Kiryas Joel, a school district that exclusively serves special-needs children in a community with high poverty rates.
The Senate version of the stimulus package dropped $20 billion in school construction funding from the House bill and trimmed $40 billion from the $79 billion that would go to states to avoid chopping spending on education and other areas.
The $790 billion compromise plan announced yesterday largely sided with the Senate on those changes, restoring just $4 billion for school construction and $5 billion to the so-called state stabilization funds.
I thought pork wasn’t kosher. KJ should reject this treif money.
At least if we become a socialist society let it go for a good cause
This will not lower our school taxes with a penny; guaranteed.
The Record Online is always trying to stir a hornet’s nest of antisemitic feelings. This article is ridiculous. The only reason the KJ school gets more is because it’s special ed. Special ed always gets way more funding.
כל הכבוד לקרית יואל
I wish them all the best, good village leaders !!
What people object to the whole culture of “dependency” that underlies KJ and how they have exploited the laws of NYS to maximize the amount of $$$ they can grab from taxpayers. Why are they the poorest community in NYS? Yidden are supposed to be entrepreneuial and self sufficient. KJ conveys a culture of perpetual dependency on others for tzedakah, both public and private. That is the issue, not any one single government program where they are certainly acting legally to extract every dollar they are entitled to.
whatever money they will get. the UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT is still under isur from a lot of gedoily hurabunim. because this needs to be free of any AMUNAH. witch means that g-d is not ……. CHILUL HASHEM
The main point is the money is not for KJ, people are sending Yiddish’e kinder in their school from all over the country, so be patient.
Did you know that a lot of families came to live special to KJ because they have nabech special kids?
# 18’s comments are very insightful. The way it looks to others is this is a community just for jews of a particular sect where others are not welcomed and distrust of outsiders is taught, and potentially even bigotry. (Imagine if it were a community only for Muslims or a wasp community with no jews allowed, how we would feel.) Then, although they don’t like and accept outsiders, they appear to be willing to take the tax money of hard working outsiders in far larger proportions than the community contributes to the tax base that goes to federal and state taxes. On top of that there are people having huge families even without plans or ability to earn money to support those families. Large families are great, but it rubs people the wrong way when people are asked to then support other’s choices to have huge families. Look at all the uproar about the mom with octuplets who chose to get pregnant even though she already had 6 litttle ones on food stamps. So its not about anti-semitism.
This will not lower the $35 per chid per month for transportation I have to pay.
This kind of behavior will only help increase anti-semitism, and then people will cry out Esav Soneh Leyaakov.
Stop relying on gov’t money KJ. Provide good education for your children and let them become productive members of the society.
Enough chilul Hashem.
I’m with you on a lot of things… government run schools need competition. You’re 100% right on the property taxes, where a lot of it goes to schools and all the legacy benefits most of us never get from our employers.
We used to have capitaism here, until the government picked the pockets of business and those who work hard for their things.
Obama is going to bring welfare to sit at home. Clinton was dragged kicking and screaming by the Republicans to sign welfare reform, which made people go to work.
If we had a flat tax or FairTax, government could not be playing around with allcoating money from one group to another group.
Again, I am not anti-Chassidim or any other type of Jew. We lost our second Beit Hamikdash because of sinat chinam. All I’m saying is use your seichel.
the reason kj got so much money is because its mostly Title 1 money. and they have the largest Title 1 in the area mostlt the 8000 students of U.T.A. and Bais Rochel
Let’s stop beating around the bush, and say what this REALLY is about. It’s simply about what is fair, plain and simple. Forget trying to cloud this with anything regarding religion or special ed needs. Any of us who are hiding behind these issues should be ashamed. I was raised to beleive that you work hard and support your family. You don’t bring a child into the world unless you can afford to. Some of us make more than we need so the governement decides who should get the extra. No one minds when the money goes to those who REALLY need it. We would actually reach deeper into our pockets for anyone who truely needs extra. This real issue is how distasteful it is to see your hard earned money go to a scam which is perpetuated generation after generation by the politicians who are just looking for votes. So, please stop with the nonsense, it already hurts to see our money being stolen, it’s insulting to hear the justifying of the scam.
I agree with #24 and #30 : there is no excuse for this sort of unjust taking of too much money for an exclusively Jewish school. Don’t try to skirt the issue — all this will do is reinforce negative stereotypes about Jews of all stripes as money grubbers.
I am Jewish and this makes me cringe.