Public Funds for Private Schools
THE charter of the city of New York, as recently amended, has been passed by the State legislature, and is now in the hands of the mayor of the city. The Independent calls attention to the fact that “one provision, not generally known, and not discussed, introduced by an amendment by somebody at Albany, at somebody’s suggestion,—we don’t know whose,—is that the city shall be allowed to appropriate money for the support of private as well as public schools. This may be unconstitutional, or it may not be; but it is a reversal of our accepted policy. . . . What is evidently intended is to provide that denominational and parochial schools may be supported by public funds. That would be a re-establishment of the system of union of Church and State. It is just as logical to support the churches with State money, as the schools. We do not believe, despite the frequent declaration of ecclesiastics that parochial schools must be supported by the public funds, that our people will ever consent to it.”