559 – Legislative Findings.

§ 559. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and declares
  that:
1. The vitality of our pluralistic society is, in part, dependent upon
  the  capacity  of  individual  parents  to  select  a school, other than
  public, for the education of their children. A healthy  competitive  and
  diverse alternative to public education is not only desirable but indeed
  vital  to  a state and nation that have continually reaffirmed the value
  of individual differences.
2.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  recognized  and
  reaffirmed  this  right of selection. This right, however, is diminished
  or even denied to children of lower-income families, whose  parents,  of
  all  groups,  have the least options in determining where their children
  are to be educated.
3. Quality education is made possible for all children  in  our  state
  only  because  the  burden of providing it has been carried by taxpayers
  who support both public and nonpublic education. Any precipitous decline
  in the number of nonpublic school pupils would cause a massive  increase
  in  public school enrollment and costs. Such an increase would seriously
  jeopardize quality education for all children and aggravate  an  already
  serious fiscal crisis in public education.
4. In recognition of the initiative of parents who support both public
  and  nonpublic  education,  it  is a legitimate purpose for the state to
  partially  relieve  the  financial  burden  of  parents  who  provide  a
  nonpublic  education  for  their children which satisfies the compulsory
  education laws of the state. Such assistance is clearly secular, neutral
  and nonideological in nature and is consistent with the  historical  and
  continuing  role  of  the state in providing a quality education for all
  children and in nurturing a pluralistic society.
5. The Arthur O. Eve Elementary and  Secondary  Education  Opportunity
  Program  is  hereby established, which consists of tuition reimbursement
  for parents of low income, in order to  provide  partial  assistance  in
  meeting  the  financial burden of supporting the compulsory education of
  their  children  who  are  full-time  students  in  New  York  nonpublic
  elementary and secondary schools.