Thanks to the more than 140,000 letters sent to New York State Education Department expressing opposition to the “Yeshiva reform” regulations, the state has placed the proposed new rules on hold.
New York State Education Department officials explained that the staggering number of public comments submitted over last summer convinced her of the need to hit the pause button.
At yesterday’s meeting of the Board of Regents, nterim Education Commissioner Shannon Tahoe said that “This is one of the most difficult conversations and hardest things this Board will have to take on. We are balancing a person’s right to religious education, and the right to choose where their child goes, with a right to ensure that their child will receive the education to which they are entitled under the law … We only think it’s prudent at this point (given the number of comments) to go back out to the field for additional feedback.”
A spokesman for PEARLS lauded the state’s move. “We are pleased that the Board of Regents heard the 140,000 voices that expressed concern about the proposed regulations,” said Sam Goldstein, a spokesman for Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, a coalition that formed in opposition to the proposed reforms. “It is particularly gratifying that SED noted the many private school parents and alumni whose comments touched on how unnecessary these regulations are, and how they would infringe on fundamental parental and religious rights.”
The proposed regulations would have required all private schools to teach the same subjects and classes as the local public schools, and would have empowered local school districts to evaluate and approve private schools every few years.
An extraordinarily diverse coalition of schools and organizations opposed the proposed regulations, including the Catholic School Superintendents overseeing all 535 Catholic schools in New York, the New York State Association of Independent Schools, the umbrella group speaking for more than 200 Independent schools in New York, the Council for American Private Education and the New York State School Boards Association. The latter’s opposition was particularly significant, because the proposed regulations would require local school boards to implement and enforce them.
New York’s Jewish school community also vigorously opposed the regulations. Public comments in opposition to the regulations were submitted by Agudath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union, Torah Umesorah – the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, among others.
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9 Responses
BH!
Klal Yisrael 1
Moser 0
Yeshivas win and the kids lose. Yeshiva education is sub-par and sets these kids up to only find job in unscrupulous fields. Is it any wonder why so many Jews are involved in the Chillul Hashem Cash Advance Business? Or my the worst landlord offenders in terms of violations are Jews? Without a proper education, the financial path forward for many of these children will be pitiful at best
Shame on NY for succumbing to mob rule. Woe to the children
now if they would just give us the money to our yeshivas who give state sponsored regents for our english departments , that would really be great
Let’s see. They learn law, history, literature, logic, and philosophy and they do it in three languages. I’ll stack that up to the typical New York State public school student any day.
This is an irresponsible headline. The threat has been kicked down the road but is not gone.
On a side note it behooves schools to make sure they are doing all they can to educate kids for the world we live in. Hameivin yavin.
As a native New Yorker, I would like to share the following:
For many decades New York State has administered (Board of) Regents examinations in major high school subjects: mathematics, the sciences, English, etc. Yeshiva and Bais Yaakov students have consistently scored higher on these examinations than their public school counterparts.
This proves that the General Studies education in Yeshiva and Bais Yaakov high schools is SUPERIOR to that in the public high schools!
Hey Jojo.
Simple question for you. When was the last time you ever spent a full day in a NYC public school.
When you do, then you will know what sub par really means.
And exactly how do you know to connect that issue with unscrupulous business people. I know a lot of yeshiva graduates who went on to establish very successful businesses that serve various industries. According to your very biased analysis, do you think that Bernie Madoff or the executives at Enron also went to Yeshiva?
Maybe, people close to you are crooks, but that does not give you the right to generalize.
BH this was a wonderful example of Achdus- and the importance of the Constitutionally protected right of freedom of religion; which is why most Jews came to America in the first place. As a result of my yeshiva education I went into a master’s program, and had a 4.0 GPA and now am going for my PhD.
Jojo,
What do you work as?