(JTA) — The New York City Council passed a bill to provide private schools nearly $20 million in state funding for security guards.
Following Monday’s vote, the measure awaits Mayor Bill De Blasio’s signature.
Councilman David Greenfield, a Brooklyn Democrat whose district includes heavily Jewish neighborhoods, introduced the bill last year.
It provides funding for a security guard at every private school with more than 300 students. Private schools with more than 500 students will receive an additional guard.
The Orthodox Union had advocated heavily for the bill.
“Now more than ever, with families increasingly concerned about security, all kids deserve a safe learning environment, and this bill helps provide that,” said Maury Litwack, director of state political affairs for the O.U.
Along with the entire council, Litwack singled out Greenfield and the council’s speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, “for voting to protect all of our schoolchildren, regardless of where they attend school.”
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