N.Y. Education Law § 549: Legislative findings

§ 549. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and

declares that:

1. The state has a primary responsibility to ensure the health,

welfare and safety of children attending both public and nonpublic

schools.

2. The state discharges this responsibility to public school children

through substantial amounts of per pupil financial assistance to local

school districts. The fiscal crisis in nonpublic education, however, has

caused a diminution of proper maintenance and repair programs,

threatening the health, welfare and safety of nonpublic school children,

particularly in urban areas. Such areas are generally identified by a

high incidence of families receiving assistance to dependent children

and deteriorating physical structures, including nonpublic school

buildings. Financial resources necessary to properly maintain and repair

such buildings are beyond the capabilities of low-income people whose

children attend nonpublic schools.

3. In recognition of the financial plight of urban areas in attracting

qualified teachers, the federal government has enacted Title IV of the

Higher Education Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, which provides

incentives to teachers to instruct in those schools which serve a high

concentration of students from low-income families.

4. It is incumbent upon the state to ensure that the physical

environment in such Title IV areas is both healthy and safe. Incidental

to such goals, but none the less significant, is the contribution that a

healthy and safe school environment makes to the stability of urban

neighborhoods.

5. To insure a healthy and safe school environment for children

attending nonpublic schools, the state has the right to make grants for

maintenance and repair expenditures which are clearly secular, neutral

and non-ideological in nature.