Elite Private Schools Join Yeshivas In Fight Against Regulations

Some of the most expensive and prestigious independent schools in the city have joined forces with ultra-Orthodox yeshivas in a fight against proposed state regulations. The private schools have accused New York State of regulatory overreach, while critics of the yeshivas have said the elite institutions are making it easier for religious schools to skirt the standards.

State officials said more than 50,000 comments were submitted, and more are sure to come before the public comment period ends on Monday, Sept. 2. The final regulation should come to the Board of Regents for consideration this fall.

At issue: Under current state law, private schools must offer an education that's "substantially equivalent" to public schools. The new regulations would flesh out what that means and increase oversight. All schools would have to be inspected by the local school district by 2023 and regularly after that. In the past, inspections were only triggered by complaints.

“Every child in New York State is entitled to a high-quality education,” Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa said. “With the regulations, we will ensure that all students – no matter which school they attend – have the benefit of receiving the education state law says they must have.”

But Mark Lauria, executive director of the New York State Association of Independent Schools, said the new regulations amount to piles of unnecessary red tape. He said the association's schools already go through a rigorous accreditation process.

"To create something that accrediting agencies are already doing is redundant and expensive," he said. In addition, he said the regulations create a conflict of interest by putting the local school districts, which compete with private schools for students, in charge of checking compliance.

Families with children at private schools across the state have received letters from their schools urging them to register their opposition to the regulations. Some have warned that the "very independence of independent schools" is at stake. But Naftuli Moster, a yeshiva alumnus and critic, said they have nothing to worry about.

"The proposed regulations would do nothing to impact private elite schools who are privileged to provide their students with a superb education," he said. "But derailing it because of a potential minor inconvenience will greatly harm tens of thousands of children who are being denied a basic education and whose futures are robbed before their eyes."

Moster is the executive director of Yaffed, Young Advocates for Fair Education, which has been advocating for a stronger secular education at the yeshivas. The group filed a complaint years ago alleging dozens of yeshivas were failing to teach children the basics in English, math, history and science. The city is still investigating.

Many yeshiva advocates reject claims of sub-par secular education at their schools.

"People who emerge from this immersion in the classical Jewish texts have developed skills in the area of critical thinking, textual analysis, the things that Jewish education ought to be about," said Rabbi David Zweibel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, a national Orthodox Jewish organization. He called the regulations "aggressive" and "intrusive."

The state tried to tighten the regulations late last year, but a court kicked them back saying officials hadn't followed the required rule-making process. The state then published the proposed regulation in July with a comment period that ends on Labor Day. Officials say more than 50,000 comments have come through the website so far.