For first time, New York to pull funds from yeshivahs for not being 'substantially equivalent' to public ed

(JNS) — The New York State Education Department wrote in English and Yiddish to two Chassidic schools in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., on Feb. 11, notifying them that they will no longer receive public funding and directing the schools to tell parents that the institution “is no longer deemed a school, which provides compulsory education fulfilling the requirements of Article 65 of the Education Law.”

According to section 3204 of state law, “instruction given to a minor elsewhere than at a public school shall be at least substantially equivalent to the instruction given to minors of like age and attainments at the public schools of the city or district where the minor resides,” the state told Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel and Talmud Torah of Kasho.

“Despite multiple attempts and ample opportunities” to respond to the state, each school “failed to demonstrate that it meets the minimum requirements,” per the state’s letter. It directed parents to enroll their children “in a different, appropriate educational setting that provides substantially equivalent instruction as required by Education Law 3204.”

Parents have to do so “by July 1, 2025, in time for the 2025-26 school year and notify the New York City Department of Education of such new enrollment,” the state added, noting that children could enroll in a different religious or independent school that meets legal requirements, home-schooling or a public school.

As of June 30, 2025, “services and funding” to the schools in question “and any enrolled student, including but not limited to child nutrition program funds, transportation and textbooks will be discontinued,” the state wrote. (JNS sought comment from the New York City mayor and the New York governor.)

‘It is certainly different’

Moshe Krakowski, professor and director of doctoral studies at Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, studies Chassidic education in New York. He told JNS that there is little evidence that the Chassidic school system in New York City is failing to educate its students. 

“There are many Chassidic schools that offer the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, social studies and civics through at least the seventh- through eighth-grade level,” he said. “There are few schools that don’t do anything,” he added, but those “spend most of their day in incredibly rigorous, high-level religious study—and it’s not like these kids are left truant.” 

He continued, explaining that “kids in most of these Chassidic schools are studying Talmud in a way that most college kids wouldn’t be able to do, which involves high-level analysis, critical thinking skills and reading comprehension—just in Yiddish. It is certainly different from what is offered in public schools, but there’s absolutely zero evidence that kids are struggling in life or are not doing well as a result of the education they receive.”

Adina Mermelstein Konikoff is executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education (Yaffed), a nonprofit that, per its website, aims to “ensure that haredi and Chassidic yeshivahs in New York deliver a sound basic education to their students.” 

Mermelstein Konikoff told JNS that the letters “represent an unprecedented and much-needed step to ensure that every child receives the education they are guaranteed under New York State law.”

“For years, the students in these yeshivahs have been deprived of the most fundamental instruction in secular subjects like math, English, science and social studies, leaving them unprepared for life after they finish yeshiva,” she said. “Parents should never have been placed in this difficult position, but it is the inevitable consequence of these schools failing to meet even the most basic education requirements or engaging with the State Education Department to try to meet what are very reasonable standards.”

The Yaffed leader added that the nonprofit hopes “this serves as a wake-up call for other schools that continue to disregard essential academic standards.”

Krakowski told JNS that while the curricula offered in Chassidic schools vary widely—with some that are more comprehensive than others—the level of secular education provided is viewed as a matter of religious obligation.

“These communities are, by all appearances, thriving and doing quite well, and there’s no crisis here that needs solving except for the dislike people have of the Chassidic community. And that, to me, is the issue,” he said.

“It’s a community that people don’t know a lot about, and they are wary of speaking to people outside the community, which means that other people can define them,” he said. “This is not a perfect community by any means. There are plenty of problems, just like everywhere else. But overall, it’s a normal, happy and healthy community.”

‘Literate in three languages’

Krakowski told JNS that as an education professor “who has seen curricula in all sorts of different environments and seen many different types of schools,” it is “just bonkers” to think that Chassidic schools “deserve some sort of special scrutiny because their kids are somehow being horrifically abused by not having the same exact curriculum as everybody else.”

“Even the schools who provide very minimal English education, where they basically just learn to read, write and speak at a basic level, still produce students who are literate in at least three languages: Yiddish, Hebrew and Aramaic,” he said.

“In other contexts, nobody questions this. For example, if Hispanic kids are taught in Spanish, people see that as a good thing, which supports cultural differences. Public schools even teach in Spanish, and nobody has an issue with it,” he said. “But for some reason, when it comes to this one group, people suddenly say, ‘Wait a second, they’re illiterate.’”

In September 2022, the New York State Board of Regents approved requirements that school districts determine if nonpublic schools provide “substantially equivalent” instruction to public schools—a standard that has been part of New York state law for more than 100 years.

New York State’s letters to the two yeshivahs mark the first time it has told schools they are losing their public funding for failing to comply with the substantial equivalence standard, multiple sources told JNS.

According to U.S. News & World Report, Talmud Torah of Kasho has 294 students and 31 teachers. It wasn’t immediately clear how many students there are at Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel. (JNS sought comment from both schools.)

An editorial in Yeshiva World News stated that the two yeshivas “should have had more concern about how their conduct is going to impact all yeshivas across New York State.”

“They are about to become the face of the yeshivah community, even though they are outliers and not representative of the vast majority of yeshivas,” per the editorial. It noted that the schools gave the state a cold shoulder while “the yeshivah community’s legal challenge to the state’s Education Department substantial equivalency regulations is pending before the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. A decision is expected before the end of the school year.”

“It is always wiser to make your case to (the) government rather than to refuse to respond. That makes it seem like they had something to hide,” the editorial added. “The yeshivahs should have demonstrated pride and confidence in their students and chinuch (religious instruction). Explain the beauty of Torah education. Most of all, do not tell the government that the rules don’t apply to you.” 

The state told the schools that it made its determination after they failed to respond to multiple requests, including to set up site visits, per documents that JNS viewed.

The Yeshiva World News editorial also faulted the state for its timing, sending the letters amid pending legislation, and said the state “was motivated more by a desire to sabotage these efforts than by any educational concerns.”