Orthodox yeshivas that are found to be providing inferior secular education could lose state funding and risk being shut down, according to new guidelines released on Tuesday by New York State Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia, regarding private institutions that fail to provide education which is “substantially equivalent” to the public schools.
The guidelines apply to all private schools but are expected to have the harshest impact on Haredi yeshivas, which have long been accused by critics of providing insignificant education on secular subjects.
A bill that was passed last spring by state Senator Simcha Felder, a Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, placed Haredi yeshivas under the control of the NY State DOE, rather than the NYC educational system. Now the State DOE has responded to numerous complaints from advocates of improving secular studies in Haredi institutions, and instituted the guidelines, under which local school districts’ superintendents will visit every private school once every five years to determine whether said schools provide sufficient instruction in English, math, social studies and science.
Elia noted that the state will not be paying the superintendents for reviewing their local religious schools, nor will her department cover the costs of improving secular instruction in those schools. She pointed out that the law “has been in place for a very long time” and it is on the private schools to do “whatever they need to put themselves in the position to be substantially equivalent.”
“We want to ensure that all students receive the education they are entitled to under state Education Law, no matter which school they attend,” Commissioner Elia stated. Her guidelines clearly explain that parents whose children attend under-qualified schools will be instructed to send their kids to a more compliant school, or risk being declared truant.
The commissioner said private schools must provide 180 minutes of instruction on each secular subject each week, taught by a competent teacher. In addition, for grades 5 through 8, courses in career and tech education must also be provided.