New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy displays bill just signed into law on Jan. 8, 2019, that doubles funding for yeshivahs and other private schools. Photo: Mason Resnick/Teach N.J.

JNS.org – New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill into law on Tuesday, doubling security funding for nonpublic schools, including Jewish ones.

The legislation, passed unanimously in the state legislature last month, allocates $22.6 million for security in private schools, six times the funding from three years ago.

Before the Democratic governor signed the bill, just 36 percent of New Jersey’s school security was allocated toward private schools. The latest allocation raises that to 73 percent.

The funds will be used toward providing specialized security equipment and hiring more safety personnel.

“We are extremely grateful to Gov. Murphy for heeding the call of so many and making the well-being and security of all New Jersey’s children a priority,” said Sam Moed, the chairman of Teach NJ, the advocacy organization of the Orthodox Union. “This is an enormous win for children and educators in New Jersey’s nonpublic schools and for everyone who cares about safeguarding our school environment.”

Along with thanking state legislators, Teach NJ Director of State Political Affairs Dan Mitzner said: “We also extend our immense appreciation to the partnership and support of our interfaith partners including: the NJ Catholic Conference, the Council of Islamic Schools in North America, Agudath Israel of America, the Association of Christian Schools International, the NJ State Association of Jewish Federations, and the dozens of Jewish, Catholic, Christian, Islamic and other faith-based schools who joined our fight in Trenton to keep all children safe.”

“To all of these groups, schools and to their dedicated leaders,” he said, “thank you for your tireless and steadfast work to achieve our shared goal of keeping our children safe.”