Lawmakers approve Kiryas Joel bill   Print this Page Top Stories Lawmakers approve Kiryas Joel bill (08/23/99) With two previous laws invalidated by the courts and a third awaiting action by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state Legislature has approved yet another bill that would permit the residents of the Village of Kiryas Joel to maintain their own public school district. Gov. George E. Pataki has signed the bill, which allows a municipality with a population of between 10,000 and 125,000 to secede from a pre-existing district so long as the latter would retain an enrollment of at least 1,000 children. The legislation also sets forth certain procedural requirements and specifies that a majority vote of the municipality's residents or a two-thirds vote of its governing body must approve the reorganization. The pre-existing school district would have to approve the new district with a majority vote of its residents or a two-thirds vote of its school board. The governor's office estimates that 29 communities in the state would be eligible. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver places the number at 25. At a news conference, he predicted the disabled children of Kiryas Joel would be "kept in the closet" and not provided special education services unless a separate district is established for them. The legislation is part of a 231-page budget bill that passed without public debate at the tail end of the 1999 legislative session. Several lawmakers from the region admitted to reporters they were unaware the bill contained language applicable to Kiryas Joel. NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer said, "This Association went to court to successfully challenge the constitutionality of three previous laws addressing Kiryas Joel. We still are assessing the legal implications of this latest bill. We know, however, that the process for approving this legislation was unfortunate. We are also dismayed by the potential it creates for splintering communities along economic, racial, or religious lines." The Kiryas Joel school district was originally formed in 1989 to accommodate the community's preference for having its disabled children educated apart from non-Hasidic children. The courts found the first two laws allowing Kiryas Joel to have its own public school district violated the separation of church and state required by the U.S. Constitution. Recently, a majority of New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that the state's third attempt was also unconstitutional. The defendants are awaiting a response to their request that the U.S. Supreme Court review that decision.

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