The state of New York approved rules this evening (Tuesday) that will require private schools, including ultra-orthodox institutions, to prove that they teach daytime studies. The Jewish organization of the ultra-Orthodox suburb of Williamsburg responded: “We oppose the decision. We will overcome the regulations and continue to prosper.”
After many discussions, foot-dragging, and years of writing reports, the state’s education committee voted today in favor of the rules, according to which the language of the state law will be enforced, requiring private schools to teach basic subjects in a way that is “essentially equivalent” to what is taught in public schools.
According to the decision, Torah Talmuds and small yeshivots will have to comply with the rules until December 2023, and no – it is possible that they will be deprived of various government budgets that are also given to private schools. The educational institutions must prove the teaching of special subjects by external supervision of the study programs or exams.
Yesterday, an investigation by the New York Times was published according to which ultra-Orthodox private schools in the state of New York received close to a billion dollars in government aid over the past four years, but refused to ensure that their students received basic training in core studies.
According to the investigation, in ultra-Orthodox schools that agreed to send their students to state assessment tests, the failure rate was almost 100%. It was also noted that local politicians are aware of the problem, but do not work to enforce the requirements of the hina system in ultra-Orthodox schools because they fear that this will harm relations with the ultra-orthodox community in the country.
Netanyahu pledged to budget the institutions that do not teach a core. Merav Arlozorov from De Marker told@liat_regev On the consequences that may occur when a large percentage of ultra-Orthodox society does not learn core#the_matter_of_the_matter pic.twitter.com/jZOjzeiprV
— here news (@kann_news) September 12, 2022