The above news segment aired on Spectrum News on Thursday night, March 27, 2025, with reporting by Kate Lisa.

For more, visit Spectrum News or read segments from the article below:

State Education Department: Don’t play politics with nonpublic school standards

State Education Department officials told Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders Thursday not to play politics with rules that give greater oversight to the curriculum in religious and nonpublic schools as lawmakers attempt to erode the standards in a backroom budget deal.

Some lawmakers want to sneak language in the budget to give private schools more flexibility to comply with stricter SED guidelines adopted by the Board of Regents in 2022 that provide greater oversight of what instructors teach at religious and nonpublic schools. Lawmakers proposed budget language to change the department’s substantial equivalency standards as schools that have not met the stricter guidelines are expected to lose government funding later this year.

Senate Finance Committee chair Liz Krueger said the push to change the standards in the budget is a non-starter, and she’d be disappointed if it was approved by Hochul or the Legislature: “It basically undoes the SED regulations that took years, and years and years to get approved and get through court..Our job as legislators is to make sure all children get the best education we can provide, [and] to ensure they can be productive members of our society…I think it’s critically important that the Legislature not insert itself in this process this year.”

SED on Thursday said substantial equivalency is based on teaching the core subjects required by state law, and the regulations ensure students attending nonpublic schools across the state have access to instruction that is substantially equivalent to public school students. “The State Education Department is concerned that access to a high-quality education for every child could be traded away as part of a political deal to pass a state budget,” SED spokesperson JP O’Hare said in a statement. “This appears to be an attempt by some legislators to go around our state’s courts and dismantle a law that has been in place for over a century.”

The Young Advocates For Fair Education met with several lawmakers in Albany on Thursday to protest the proposal.

“We’re concerned about the tens of thousands of children that are currently in schools that are not receiving a basic education,” YAFFED Executive Director Adina Mermelstein Konikoff said. “They are not receiving English, math, history, science as part of their daily instruction.”

The group argues it would weaken academic standards and eliminate a parent’s right to demand their child receive an education, and that it’s inappropriate for the Legislature to change guidelines adopted by the Board of Regents.

The issue has resurfaced during closed-door budget talks to change the criteria for religious and private schools to teach an equivalent education to public districts since the rules took effect. Legislative leaders have considered the change to boost their support with orthodox Jewish voters, who make up powerful voting blocs downstate.

Bad bills like the ones mentioned in the above article only happen without public scrutiny. When it comes to shining a light on what’s coming out of these secret negotiations, you can always count on YAFFED to be there in defense of educational rights for yeshiva students.

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