Private schools will get taxpayer-funded security guards under a bill passed by the City Council Monday.
The controversial $19.8 million bill, which passed 43 to 4, came out of a deal between the Council and Mayor de Blasio, who balked at an earlier version that cost $51 million and would have given the schools NYPD school safety agents.
“Today, we’re saying we want every child to learn in a safe school environment by giving them school security officers just like public schools,” said Councilman David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn), who sponsored the bill, noting that anti-Jewish and Muslim crimes have spiked this year.
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Under the final deal, yeshivas, Catholic schools, and other private institutions with 300 or more students will be able to hire a guard — with big schools getting multiple guards — and get reimbursed with city money. The guards will be unarmed and will have to be paid a union-level wage of at least $18 an hour.
Civil liberties groups and budget watchdogs oppose the bill, saying it’s wrong to funnel so much taxpayer cash to religious and private schools.
“These are all schools that have private budgets. They charge their students tuition,” said Johanna Miller, advocacy director for the NYCLU. “We’re concerned about the city spending $20 million of funds that are desperately needed in public schools on religious institutions. … We don’t intermingle government funds with religious institutions in this country, and we shouldn’t.”
Critics also say an unarmed private guard will do little to protect against a terror or hate attack.
“This bill is a multi-million dollar subsidy of yeshivas, private and parochial schools and will come at a great cost to our New York City public school students,” said education committee chairman Danny Dromm (D-Queens) in a joint statement with Councilwoman Rosie Mendez (D-Manhattan).
“Claims that this legislation will protect students are specious at best: the fine print reveals that security guards would still be required to contact the NYPD should there be a threat to students’ well-being,” they said, calling the bill “fiscally irresponsible and possibly unconstitutional” and “simply a ruse orchestrated by well-paid lobbyists.”
The teachers union and liberal groups including the Alliance for Quality Education and New York Communities for Change also fought the measure.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said she believes the measure would survive any constitutional challenge. “What we’re doing here does not advance religion per se. This is about keeping our children safe,” she said.
Greenfield shot back that it’s the opponents’ argument that is “spurious,” saying spending the money is fine because the city is “flush with cash.”
“We have money to make decisions based on what we think is important public policy. That doesn’t put anything versus something else,” he said.
