2006 New York Code - Legislative Findings.

 
    § 559. Legislative   findings.    The  legislature  hereby  finds  and
  declares that:
    1. The vitality of our pluralistic society is, in part, dependent upon
  the capacity of individual  parents  to  select  a  school,  other  than
  public,  for  the education of their children. A healthy competitive and
  diverse alternative to public education is not only desirable but indeed
  vital to a state and nation that have continually reaffirmed  the  value
  of individual differences.
    2.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  recognized  and
  reaffirmed this right of selection. This right, however,  is  diminished
  or  even  denied to children of lower-income families, whose parents, of
  all groups, have the least options in determining where  their  children
  are to be educated.
    3.  Quality  education  is made possible for all children in our state
  only because the burden of providing it has been  carried  by  taxpayers
  who support both public and nonpublic education. Any precipitous decline
  in  the number of nonpublic school pupils would cause a massive increase
  in public school enrollment and costs.  Such an increase would seriously
  jeopardize quality education for all children and aggravate  an  already
  serious fiscal crisis in public education.
    4. In recognition of the initiative of parents who support both public
  and  nonpublic  education,  it  is a legitimate purpose for the state to
  partially  relieve  the  financial  burden  of  parents  who  provide  a
  nonpublic  education  for  their children which satisfies the compulsory
  education laws of the state. Such assistance is clearly secular, neutral
  and nonideological in nature and is consistent with the  historical  and
  continuing  role  of  the state in providing a quality education for all
  children and in nurturing a pluralistic society.
    5. An Elementary and Secondary Education Opportunity Program is hereby
  established, which consists of tuition reimbursement for parents of  low
  income,  in order to provide partial assistance in meeting the financial
  burden of supporting the compulsory education of their children who  are
  full-time  students  in  New  York  nonpublic  elementary  and secondary
  schools.