The entire YAFFED team joined renowned education policy attorney Michael Rebell on Thursday, September 18, at the Kings County Supreme Court for the announcement of a class action lawsuit to reverse New York State’s dismantling of education standards for nonpublic schools in a backroom political deal during this year’s state budget process.
YAFFED’s movement took a historic step forward in supporting this lawsuit challenging the State of New York’s cruel dismantling of education standards for nonpublic schools. Every child has the right to learn, but far too many Hasidic children are being denied an education because the state has refused to guarantee it. This lawsuit will guarantee this right – and that means reversing the disastrous dismantling of substantial equivalency by our legislative leaders. We cannot accept a law that shirks the state’s responsibility to educate our students.
Mr. Rebell filed the suit against the state together with the firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP and the Youth Advocacy and Policy Lab at Harvard Law School on behalf of the approximately 100,000 Hasidic students who were denied access to education in their nonpublic schools. In his statement, Rebell said: “The Constitution requires that the state ensure all children — including those in private and religious schools — receive a sound, basic education. When the state weakens enforcement of that guarantee, it fails its most fundamental obligation.”
Cayla Bamberger at the New York Daily News and Dan Clark at the Albany Times Union first reported on the lawsuit.
As YAFFED Executive Director Adina Mermelstein Konikoff told Newsweek, the Daily News, Albany Times Union, Spectrum News, 1010WINS, and others, while not a party in the lawsuit, YAFFED is supporting this legal action because education cannot be something that is politicized. Our children’s futures cannot be traded in a political backroom deal.
Check out the coverage in Spectrum News, 1010WINS, and WCNY Radio including interviews with YAFFED Executive Director Adina Mermelstein Konikoff:
Spectrum News Segment – Thursday, September 18
YAFFED Executive Director Adina Mermelstein Konikoff on 1010WINS, Thursday, September 18
YAFFED Executive Director Adina Mermelstein Konikoff on The Capitol Pressroom with Dave Lombardo on WCNY Radio, Tuesday, September 30
More news coverage of the lawsuit:
Newsweek – New York Sued Over Standards in Orthodox Jewish Schools: What to Know
Newsday – NYS leaders accused of ‘gutting’ regulations for ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools, new lawsuit alleges
BK Reader – Lawsuit Pushes NY to Provide Secular Education at Yeshivas
Bloomberg – NY Sued Over Rollback of Stricter Standards for Private Schools
Times Union – Hochul, top lawmakers sued after shifting yeshiva, nonpublic school standards
NY Daily News – Yeshiva reformers take Gov. Hochul, state lawmakers to court over delayed secular studies
Politico – Prominent education attorney sues state over changes to regulations for religious schools
Spectrum News – Hochul and legislative leaders sued over substantial equivalency changes
New York State Senator Robert Jackson, a longtime champion of education in the legislature, joined Mr. Rebell and YAFFED outside the courthouse today in support of the lawsuit. “A state that denies our children the tools to learn denies them their future. The promise of the opportunity for a sound basic education is not reserved for some – it belongs to every child in New York state.” Senator Jackson said.
In a statement to the press earlier that day, Senator Jackson said about the lawsuit: “In the Legislature, I have worked alongside advocates for educational equity as they have fought for the right to learn. I am proud to stand alongside them as they make their case in court – every child in New York deserves a fair chance to succeed, and that starts in the classroom.”
Several other legislators also weighed in: State Senator Liz Krueger joined Assembly Members Phara Souffrant Forrest and Dana Levenberg in issuing statements supporting the legal challenge.
“The changes made to substantial equivalency standards in this year’s budget, snuck in at the very last minute, were shameful. They abandoned our moral and legal responsibility to ensure that all our children receive a basic education, and they will hurt Jewish children the most. This is not a religious issue, it is one of the basic rights of New York children as guaranteed in our state constitution, and I am glad to see these provisions will be challenged in the courts,” said New York State Senator Liz Krueger.
Senator Krueger has been a leading legislative advocate for educational equity in yeshivas, and prominently denounced the gutting of substantial equivalency enforcement in a fiery speech on the Senate floor.
“Education is the foundation of economic mobility. When children are denied an education, they are denied the chance to build their own future. As a state, we cannot accept a reality where tens of thousands of children are cut off from this opportunity,” said New York State Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest.
“Our state constitution says that all students are entitled to a sound, basic education. Substantial equivalency is how we protect that important constitutional right for students who attend private school. I stand firmly with the students and education advocates who are fighting to ensure that all New York students have access to an education that enables them to determine their own futures,” said New York State Assemblymember Dana Levenberg.
As the 2025 school year gets underway, the changes to regulations are preventing education authorities from effectively enforcing the law. Schools are now allowed to evade standards that the New York State Education Department (NYSED) spent years carefully developing by eviscerating requirements used to prove compliance. The lawsuit filed today seeks to enforce this right for private school students for the first time by reversing the gutting of substantial equivalency regulations, which enforce education standards in nonpublic schools.