§ 549. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and
declares that:

1. The state has a primary responsibility to ensure the health,
welfare and safety of children attending both public and nonpublic
schools.

2. The state discharges this responsibility to public school children
through substantial amounts of per pupil financial assistance to local
school districts. The fiscal crisis in nonpublic education, however, has
caused a diminution of proper maintenance and repair programs,
threatening the health, welfare and safety of nonpublic school children,
particularly in urban areas. Such areas are generally identified by a
high incidence of families receiving assistance to dependent children
and deteriorating physical structures, including nonpublic school
buildings. Financial resources necessary to properly maintain and repair
such buildings are beyond the capabilities of low-income people whose
children attend nonpublic schools.

3. In recognition of the financial plight of urban areas in attracting
qualified teachers, the federal government has enacted Title IV of the
Higher Education Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, which provides
incentives to teachers to instruct in those schools which serve a high
concentration of students from low-income families.

4. It is incumbent upon the state to ensure that the physical
environment in such Title IV areas is both healthy and safe. Incidental
to such goals, but none the less significant, is the contribution that a
healthy and safe school environment makes to the stability of urban
neighborhoods.

5. To insure a healthy and safe school environment for children
attending nonpublic schools, the state has the right to make grants for
maintenance and repair expenditures which are clearly secular, neutral
and non-ideological in nature.