June 25, 2010 11:33AM 

# Why Involve a Public School? 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

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In a [*New York Times* story ](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/nyregion/25hebrew.html?ref=education)about a Hebrew language charter school — a school the article says has not “ventured into politically sensitive territory” — First Amendment Center scholar Charles Haynes asks incredulously:

> Israelis themselves have a hard time around the question of whether Israel is a Jewish state or a democracy. Why would we want to involve a public school here in that question?

I think I have a possible answer: Because private Hebrew schooling would require parents first to pay taxes for public schools they don’t want, then a second time for the education they do.

I wonder what we could do to [remedy the situation](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=3464)…

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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