February 22, 2000


Carl T. Hayden
Chancellor, New York State Board of Regents
303 William Street
Elmira, NY 14901

New York State Board of Regents
(see distribution list attached)



Dear Chancellor Hayden and Regents:

The American Jewish Committee, an organization founded in 1906 with over 100,000 members and supporters and four chapters in New York State, has a long-held, deep commitment to preserving the wall of separation between church and state. AJC views the separation principle as an essential component of the preservation of religious liberty and one reason why religion has been such a vital presence in our nationís history.

AJC is firmly committed to excellence, equality and choice in public education. We are hopeful that charter schools will prove to be an effective innovation that will provide families, particularly in the nationís urban centers with another option in attaining quality education for their children within public schools. However, AJC is profoundly concerned that charter schools not violate the constitutional separation between church and state or jeopardize the crucial role the public school system has historically played in teaching Americaís children core democratic values and appreciation for pluralism.

The New York Chapter of the American Jewish Committee is deeply concerned that the trustees of the State University of New York have authorized a charter for the Rochester Leadership Charter School Academy, a school which intends to teach creationism (see enclosed article from Democrat and Chronicle, December 15, 1999). Federal courts have repeatedly found creationism to be a religious doctrine and have prohibited public schools from teaching creationism as a science

Chancellor Hayden & Regents
February 18th, 2000
-2-

or as an alternative to evolution. See, e.g., Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578 (1987).

The Rochester Leadership Charter School Academy, will be run by National Heritage Academy, a corporation with strong Evangelical ties. In fact, National Heritage, based in Michigan, has attracted so many Evangelical Christians, that in Grand Rapids, parents are transferring their children out of private, Christian academies and into National Heritageís Vanguard Charter Academy ñ because this publicly funded charter school offers a Christian education for free! (Wall Street Journal, September 15, 1999, p. 1.)

The Michigan Civil Liberties Union has sued National Heritage and Vanguard in U.S. District Court for a pattern of church-state violations, including the teaching of creationism.

We respectfully remind you that New York Stateís Constitution and the New York Charter Schools Act of 1998, ß 2854 2(a), prohibit public schools from promoting religion. We urge you to return National Heritageís application for reconsideration under the powers granted you under this Act, id. ß 2852 (5)(a). Should National Heritageís application survive this process, it is crucial that you ìoverseeî the Rochester Leadership Charter School Academy including visits to the school and inspection of school records, as required by ß 2853 (2), of the same law.

Respectfully yours,



Suzanne Denbo Jaffe Laura J. Lewis
President Assistant Director
New York Chapter American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee

c.c.:
Richard P. Mills, Commissioner of Education
Scott Steffey, President SUNY Charter School Institute
Thomas F. Egan, Chair, Board of Trustees, SUNY
John Walker, Assistant Professor of Business, Roberts Wesleyan College
Steve Sanders, Chair, NYS Assembly Standing Committee on Education
John R. Kuhl, Chair, NYS Senate Committee on Education
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