New York Education Regulations Puts Jewish Schools in Crosshairs
Originally written December 13, 2018
In November, the New York State Education Department put
forward new requirements to determine if nonpublic schools have met their
defined standards of “Substantial Equivalency” of a public school education. This is on the heels of the decision in April
of 2018 by the New York State Legislature to give the Commissioner of Education
the authority to inspect nonpublic schools to determine if their education is
up to the defined standards.
The Legislature defined educational expectations in § 3204 of
Education Law. However, they leave it up
to the Education Department to decide how to calculate if a nonpublic school is
compliant with the law. This allows for the
Commissioner “…be the entity
that determines whether nonpublic elementary
and secondary schools are in
compliance with the academic requirements set forth” in the law. So when Education Department, led by
Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, released their regulations, many schools were
surprised at the unnecessary stringency of the requirements.
According to the “Nonpublic
School Self Study Tool Kit”, the requirements for grades 5-8 are broken
down by subject’s instruction in units of study per week. A unit of study is defined at 180
minutes. When accounting for all the
required subjects, which include English, Math, Science, Physical Education,
Health, Music, and more, the minimum required time a nonpublic school must
spend on these subjects is 36.75 hours per week. By contrast, regulations
for public school list educational instructions for a minimum 5.5 hours per
day, or 27.5 hours per week. Based on
this, nonpublic schools require a minimum of 9.25 hours per week more than
public schools to maintain a “Substantial Equivalency”.
However, this only tells half the story. According to the tool kit, minimum time for a
nonpublic school to be open for the same educational grade range in 9 am – 5:30
pm for a majority of weekdays. That
leaves a total of 42.5 hours (less than six hours a week for breakfast, lunch
and recess, which are mandated by the State).
This greatly affects Jewish Parochial schools (Yeshiva’s), which have a
religious education on top of a secular one.
All of this leads to the growing movement amongst the Jewish community
in New York to have the Commissioner’s office change their guidelines before
inspections begin in February 2019.
In a video
circulating online, Rabbi Yisroel Reisman, the Head of Yeshiva Torah
VDaath, describes the new regulations as “draconian, outrageous and
immediate”. As of Thursday morning, a change.org
petition has over 16,000 signatures.
The Jewish community is organizing to tell the state that their
regulations are an undue burden upon them, and it’s easy to see why.
Depending on the level of religiousness in your school,
which ranges from reform to ultra-orthodox, a wide variety of classes are offered. Studies in biblical translation and
interpretation, in depth analyses in Jewish law, and Talmudic studies are
standard for many of these schools. The
time commitments are different for Jewish schools as well. Schools typically close early on Fridays so
the students have enough time to get home for the Sabbath (which starts prior
to sunset and during the winter can start as early as 4 pm). In addition, as Jews pray 3 times a day,
schools have morning and afternoon prayers every day (and in the winter,
nighttime prayers are usually included as well). It is common, before these regulations, for
students to spend 10 hours a day in school.
Depending on the distance from their homes, leaving at 6 am and
returning home after 8 pm. At which
point, they are saddled with homework.
All of this places an undue and unnecessary burden on children.
To add insult to injury, Yeshiva tuition for grades 5-8
averages between $9,000 - $15,000 per child.
Yeshiva tuition at that age is not tax deductible, nor are eligible for
school vouchers. Parents who choose to
send their child to the Yeshiva education system and pay property taxes must
pay public school taxes on top of the tuition costs, all to be told that the
schools they choose to send their children to are deemed substandard.
If the counter-argument to these new regulations is the
failing educational standard of nonpublic schools, the data would suggest
otherwise. The Jewish Press recently published
findings they received under a Freedom of Information Law request. The data showed that many Jewish Schools have
a significantly higher average Regents (New York State’s Standardized Tests)
score than their public school counterparts; sometimes over 30 points
higher. This average is maintained over
a variety of secular education subjects.
Students are able to achieve these high scores while also receiving a
religious education.
Failing to pass these inspections coming in 2019 can yield
some significant consequences, including losing funding for textbooks and
bussing. In some cases, schools could
actually be closed, and parents instructed to send their children to public
schools. Jewish families around the
state sacrifice a lot of time and a lot of money to provide their children with
an education that reflects the values of their communities. These regulations threaten that.
The New York State Education Department has, with these
regulations, placed another undue burden upon the Jewish community and the
Jewish educational system. Minimum
educational standards for nonpublic schools that exceed the standards for public
schools for the stated goal of equivalency is oxymoronic. To be truly equivalent, Jewish schools can
education for less hours and still allow their standardized test scores to drop
significantly. Commissioner MaryEllen
Elia should study that data before implementing this decision.
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