In a serious challenge to private Hasidic Jewish schools in New York state, state education officials have determined that a large all-boys school in Brooklyn failed to provide basic education and violated state law.
The ruling is one of a number of private schools that offer solid religious instruction in Yiddish, but little instruction in English and mathematics, and virtually no education in science, history, or social studies. It is the first time a state has taken action against a Hasidic boys’ school. It also came as a scathing rebuke to the administration of Mayor Eric Adams, who recommended that the Department of Education accredit schools in compliance with laws requiring private schools to provide an education equivalent to public schools.
The decision, issued last week by Commissioner Betty Rosa, was previously unreported and stems from a lawsuit filed by parents against the school alleging a lack of secular education. has called on the city’s education authorities to work with Yeshiva Mesivta Argat Habosem School in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to develop an improvement plan that many Hasidic schools have long fought to avoid. Yes. State officials have the final say on their improvement plans, putting more pressure on city officials that have so far avoided intervening in schools.
A spokesman for the city’s education department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But the potential impact goes beyond a single school. The ruling could portend significantly increased oversight of Hasidic schools, leading to more lawsuits and complaints against schools that may not be complying with state law.
Timeline: Superintendent of Hasidic School in New York
State law requires all private schools to provide an education equivalent to public schools. In 2015, the New York City Department of Education announced that it would investigate complaints about the quality of secular education in Hasidic Jewish community schools. The investigation timeline is as follows:
“The state was right,” said Beatrice Weber, the mother of 10 children who have since filed a lawsuit against her youngest child’s school and left the Hasidic community. “Hopefully now things really change.” Ms. Weber recently became the leader of Young Advocates for Equitable Education, a group that promotes more secular education in Hasidic schools. Nominated.
The decision also marks a series of measures aimed at regulating private schools, including those that, like other religious schools, have been largely allowed to operate without government oversight for decades. Provides first test of new state rule. These regulations, which went into effect just two weeks ago, say schools that don’t follow state laws can lose public funding.
Hasidic leaders have voiced vehement opposition to the new rules, casting them as an existential threat to communities before they were approved by state councils last month. has sued the state over the regulations.
“Yeshiva is a central and irreplaceable pillar of Orthodox Jewish life in New York,” reads the lawsuit seeking to overturn the regulation.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Parents’ Association for Educational and Religious Freedom in Schools, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit, defended Yeshiva Mesivta Argat Habosem.
“Educators from the city’s Department of Education visited the school several times and determined that it met a substantially equivalent standard,” spokesman Richard Bamberger said, referring to state law. “It’s disappointing that state education department political officials won’t accept the city’s findings.”
Last month, The New York Times reported that more than 100 Hasidic boys’ schools in Brooklyn and the Lower Hudson Valley had raised at least $1 billion in taxpayer money over the past four years, much of it from students. deny basic secular education to
The Times reports that Hasidic boy yesivas who take the state’s standardized tests perform worse than any other school in New York State, and that religious teachers in many schools frequently use corporal punishment to enforce order, I found that it interfered with my learning.
Records show that Yeshiva Mesivta Argat Habosem, which enrolls about 500 boys, received more than $4 million from the government last year before the pandemic.
Rosa said in the ruling that New York City education officials recommended in July to make sure schools were compliant with the law, but she rejected the offer.
The commissioner wrote that the school refused to allow state education officials to visit last month and repeatedly refused to provide evidence that it complied with state education laws. It did not prove that the school was teaching all required subjects.
She said that observations she received from city officials did show that yeshiva did not provide adequate instruction in English, social studies, or science. While it appeared to be an improvement, it was not on par with what was offered in public schools, as mandated by state law. The commissioner wrote that yeshiva administers national exams in English and mathematics, but that a “majority” of students across grades failed the exams, scoring well below the average for the city’s public schools. I’m here.
Rosa said city officials did not provide enough evidence to support their claims and did not appear to be investigating the specific allegations made by Webber about the school. “None of these deficiencies promote confidence in the city’s education sector,” she wrote.