Albany - Tousands Of Yeshivah Students Call for Private-School Tax Aid

Albany - Thousands of yeshivah students gathered on the steps of the Capitol with their teachers, rabbis, to call for the support of the governor's proposal to provide a tax credit that could be used to pay for private or parochial schools.
Gov. George E. Pataki's budget proposal to give parents in failing school districts a $500 tax credit has already received a nod of approval from the Republican-controlled Senate and several members in the Democratic-controlled Assembly.
But supporters of the proposal are still pressing for the support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who remained on the fence.
Mr. Silver, who is an Orthodox Jew, is under dueling pressures from the Jewish community and the teachers' unions, two groups that he has supported in the past, and which have supported him.

The $400 million proposal would allow parents who live in a school district with failing schools to receive up to $500 per child to use for any educational purpose. Mr. Pataki and other supporters have said that most of the money would go to parents in New York City with children in public schools.