§ 549 — Legislative findings

§ 549. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and\ndeclares that:\n 1. The state has a primary responsibility to ensure the health,\nwelfare and safety of children attending both public and nonpublic\nschools.\n 2. The state discharges this responsibility to public school children\nthrough substantial amounts of per pupil financial assistance to local\nschool districts. The fiscal crisis in nonpublic education, however, has\ncaused a diminution of proper maintenance and repair programs,\nthreatening the health, welfare and safety of nonpublic school children,\nparticularly in urban areas. Such areas are generally identified by a\nhigh incidence of families receiving assistance to dependent children\nand deteriorating physical structures, including nonpublic school\nbuildings. Financial resources necessary to properly maintain and repair\nsuch buildings are beyond the capabilities of low-income people whose\nchildren attend nonpublic schools.\n 3. In recognition of the financial plight of urban areas in attracting\nqualified teachers, the federal government has enacted Title IV of the\nHigher Education Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, which provides\nincentives to teachers to instruct in those schools which serve a high\nconcentration of students from low-income families.\n 4. It is incumbent upon the state to ensure that the physical\nenvironment in such Title IV areas is both healthy and safe. Incidental\nto such goals, but none the less significant, is the contribution that a\nhealthy and safe school environment makes to the stability of urban\nneighborhoods.\n 5. To insure a healthy and safe school environment for children\nattending nonpublic schools, the state has the right to make grants for\nmaintenance and repair expenditures which are clearly secular, neutral\nand non-ideological in nature.\n