The New York State Education Department is once again trying to gain the authority to control our Yeshivas’ curriculum, schedule and staffing. We must oppose their efforts.
We are all aware of the Guidelines that SED sought to impose last year. There was a public outcry in opposition and in April, to our relief, the State Supreme Court in Albany ruled that the Education Commissioner did not have the authority to impose them.
The regulations proposed by SED have the same requirements as the Guidelines that were struck down by the Court. They would require 4.4 hours of secular studies instruction each weekday, the inclusion of subjects that are inconsistent with our values and beliefs and government monitoring of our Rebbeim and teachers.
Because of the April court ruling, these regulations cannot be unilaterally imposed by the Commissioner or the State Education Department. They must be reviewed and approved by the Board of Regents before they can be enacted.
WE MUST ACT NOW TO PREVENT THESE REGULATIONS FROM BEING ADOPTED.
What can we do?
There is a sixty day period for the public to submit comments to the Board of Regents before they will be considered. SED scheduled the sixty days to run during summer vacation, making it difficult to marshal the private school community’s opposition
We will not be silenced. It is vitally important that all yeshiva parents and yeshiva graduates make their voices heard and submit their opposition.
Torah Umesorah and others have set up portals that make it quick and easy for yeshiva parents and graduates to submit comments. It takes only two minutes to fill out a form and have your comment submitted. Please visit the Torah Umesorah site at www.voice.torahumesorah.org and submit your comments as soon as possible.
We need to make our voices heard. We must let the members of the Board of Regents know that we cannot accept these proposed regulations.
With our tefilos and Siyata D’shmaya, we will be successful in defeating these proposed regulations. But we need to do our part, by submitting our comments in opposition now.
Rabbi Yaakov Bender
Rabbi Elya Brudny
Rabbi Yisroel Reisman
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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2 Responses
Editor, please post a link to that Torah Umesorah portal.
Stop taking so much money from the State! Our Mosdos are grilling them for every nickel and dime. All the school administrators are connected with one another so they don’t miss out on a single grant. If you take money, you have to comply. It’s a relationship! Unfortunately, many of our “private schools” have become public schools. Let’s call our administration offices and tell them to stop hurting our mosdos. Charge some more tuition and stay away from the Government. Don’t they realize that already or the money is blinding them?