Article Added On: January 16, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Title: Quebec boosts Jewish schools
Author: RH
Publication: The Globe and Mail
Publication Date: January 01, 2005 - over 3 years ago
Faith Groups: Jewish
Themes: Religion and society

Abstract: The Quebec government's controversial decision to fully subsidize private Jewish schools will be extended to other private religious and ethnic schools if they meet the necessary requirements, Education Minister Pierre Reid says.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

QUEBEC and TORONTO -- The Quebec government's controversial decision to fully subsidize private Jewish schools will be extended to other private religious and ethnic schools if they meet the necessary requirements, Education Minister Pierre Reid says.

Despite strong objections from public-school officials, the teachers' union and parents' groups, Mr. Reid is standing behind his government's unexpected decision to inject as much as $10-million more into the private Jewish school system and offer similar funding to other private schools.

"The law allows everyone to make proposals and these proposals will be analyzed," he said yesterday.

He said the province's education law allows private religious schools to receive full funding for if they conduct cultural exchange activities with a public school board. Greek private schools already receive full funding.

Mr. Reid said the decision is about promoting ethnic harmony and flows from last year's anti-Semitic firebombing in Montreal of the library at the United Talmud Torahs school.

He said proposals for increased funding of five of the 15 Jewish schools in Quebec were approved in December. The schools will receive about $2,000 more a student, which will total $5,200 a student, the same as public schools. The decision to increase funding from the present 60-per-cent level caught many groups by surprise.

Kazi Muzaffer, the general secretary of the Islamic Centre of Quebec, said Montreal's four Muslim schools will seek similar funding. "It will give us parity with other schools," he said.

But defenders of Quebec's nondenominational public school system said the government should not spend more on private schools when the public system needs funds. Quebec already has one of the country's most generous public funding programs for the 100,000 students in private schools, and some fear that this latest initiative will undermine the quality of education for the one million public-school students.

"What we will witness [will be] more private schools built along ethnic lines and religious beliefs. . . . This goes against the very essence of a modern Quebec," said R