Is discrimination always wrong?

Should every school serve everyone? Is “discrimination” always and inescapably wrong? Should private schools participating in school choice programs be allowed to discriminate in admissions or hiring? These are some of the questions we will be tackling at an upcoming policy forum hosted by the Cato Institute in Washington, DC. The event is free and will also be live streamed. For more information, or to register for the June 29th event, go to https://www.cato.org/events. In the meantime, please feel free to share your thoughts or questions directly to me in advance of the event by responding to this email.

Of course, there are times when discrimination is wrong, such as when Israel is singled out at the United Nations for “automatic criticism”. Therefore, Rabbi Zwiebel recently sent a letter to US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley calling her a “breath of fresh air in the long polluted geopolitical atmosphere of Turtle Bay” and thanking the ambassador for her “courageous and principled stance on Israel.”

While the governors of Florida and Nevada signed school choice legislation this week (see state links above) following the end of their legislative sessions, New York State has a few days left to pass laws. To read Agudath Israel’s NY legislative scorecard click here. New Jersey’s legislative session is also winding down, leaving nonpublic school advocates very little time to include security and other funding in the budget bill as described by Rabbi Avi Schnall in his recent interview with the Lakewood Voice.