3 Rabbis Oppose Vouchers for Private Schools : Education: Plan is bad for the community, Jewish leaders say, even though families of students at their temples would benefit.

Calling it a matter of principles over pocketbooks, three rabbis whose temples educate nearly 1,500 children declared opposition to the school voucher initiative even though the families of their students would receive $3.8 million a year in tuition rebates.

The initiative, which calls for tax-funded vouchers worth $2,600 a year for parents of school-age children enrolled in private schools, “would destroy the public school system completely,” said Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin of the Stephen S. Wise Temple in Bel-Air, which enrolls about 1,000 students in kindergarten through high school. Tuition at the school ranges from $5,000 to $9,000 a year.

“It is bad for the community generally, even though my congregation would benefit,” said Zeldin, who hosted a news conference at his temple last week.

Supporters of Proposition 174 argue that the measure, which will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot, would give parents a greater say in picking schools for their children by rebating a portion of their tax bills. That would prompt competition and, according to proponents, improve education generally in California.

But opponents, such as Rabbi Harold Schulweiss of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, say the immediate result would be that public schools would lose at least $1 billion in state money to the parents of the half-million or so children already enrolled in private schools.

Schulweiss, who enrolls about 400 students at his school, said the initiative would allow state sponsorship of schools with questionable academic standards or oppressive ideological points of view. The initiative would violate the principal of separation of church and state by providing public funds for religious schools, he added.

“Public funds should be used for public circumstances. It’s as simple as that,” Schulweiss said. “. . . The public school is in serious trouble. But you don’t fix the wheel by taking out a spoke or two. You cannot use taxation, public money, to sustain and support private interests.”

If the measure passes, Schulweiss said he would refuse to accept the vouchers.

Rabbi John Rosove of Temple Israel of Hollywood said the Jewish community has traditionally supported public education in the United States, which has provided the opportunity for Jewish and other minority immigrants to achieve middle-class status.

The voucher system, he said, would “create a two-tiered system of rich and poor.”

Rosove, whose school has about 85 students, and others said the $2,600 rebate would do little for the poor, who would not be able to afford the tuition of most established private schools, which have fees of $5,000 and more.

California allocates about $5,200 annually for each of its public schoolchildren.

The rabbis spoke as part of a campaign sponsored by the Jewish Coalition Against the Voucher, which includes organizations such as the American Jewish Congress and B’nai B’rith.

Although the rabbis have not yet polled their congregations on how they view vouchers, they planned to discuss the ballot initiative in upcoming sermons, they said.