New York State Department of Education wrote English and Yiddish On February 11, the two Chassis Die Schools in Brooklyn's Williamsburg area will not receive public funds and instruct the school to tell their parents that they are no longer considered a school that provides compulsory education that provides compulsory education that meets the requirements of Article 65 of the Education Act.
According to Section 3204 Under state law, “the instructions given to minors rather than public schools are at least substantially equivalent to those given to minors of age and arrival of achievement in the public schools of the city or district in which the minority resides,” the state told Ka Kasho Yeshiva Bnei Simon Isroel and the Talmud Tora.
Despite “multiple attempts and ample opportunities” to respond to the state, schools “didn't show that it met the minimum requirements” according to the state letter.
It directed parents to register their children in another appropriate educational setting that provides the essentially comparable instruction required by Educational Act 3204.
Parents say they need to “notify the New York City Department of Education of such new registrations by July 1, 2025, in time for the 2025-26 grade.”
As of June 30, 2025, “services and funding” and “registered students, transportation and textbooks, including, but not limited to, funding for the school in question, will be discontinued,” the state wrote. (JNS has requested comment from the mayor of New York City and the governor of New York.)
“That's certainly not.”
Moshe Krakowski, doctoral professor and doctoral director at Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Management at Yeshiva University, studies Chasidic education in New York.
He told JNS there was little evidence that New York City's Chassis School system could not educate students.
“There are many Shashidic Schools that offer reading, writing, arithmetic, social studies and civic basics at least throughout the seventh to eighth grade levels,” he said. “There are few schools that do nothing,” he added, but they “we spend most of the day on incredibly strict and high-level religious studies. It's not that these kids are left unstable.”
He continues, “Most kids at these Chasidic schools study the Talmud in ways that most college students can't. It certainly is different from what is offered in public schools, but there is absolutely no evidence that their children are struggling with life or that they are not doing well as a result of the education they receive.”
Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, according to the website, said, “is the executive director of Young Advocates (Yaffed), of Fair Education (Yaffed), a nonprofit organization that aims to ensure that Haredi and Chassidic Yeshivahs in New York provide healthy basic education to their students.
Mermelstein Konikoff told JNS that the letter “represents an unprecedented and much-needed step to ensuring that all children receive the education guaranteed under New York State law.”
“For years, these yeshiva students have been deprived of the most basic instructions in secular subjects such as mathematics, English, science, and social studies. “While parents should never have been placed in this difficult position, it is an inevitable outcome that these schools do not meet the most basic educational requirements or engage with the state's education department to meet very reasonable standards.”
Yaffed Leader added that the nonprofit hopes “it serves as a wake-up call for other schools that continue to ignore essential academic standards.”
Krakowski told JNS that while the curriculum offered by Chassidic Schools is very different, some are more comprehensive than others, the level of secular education provided is considered a matter of religious obligation.
“These communities are thriving and doing very well, with all their appearances. There's no crisis here where people need solutions except for those who don't like the Chasidic community, and that's a problem for me,” he said.
“It's a community where people don't know a lot of people and they're wary of talking to people outside of the community, meaning that others can define them,” he said. “This is by no means a perfect community. There are many issues, as you can find anywhere else. But overall, it's a normal, happy, healthy community.”
“Literacy in three languages”
Krakowski told JNS “I've seen curriculum in all sorts of different environments, and I've seen so many different types of schools,” and it's “just a weirdo” to think that Chasidic Schools “have somehow been horribly abused for not having the same curriculum as others, so it deserves some kind of special scrutiny.”
“Even schools that offer very minimal English education that learns to read, write and speak at a fundamental level, produce students who can read and write in at least three languages: Yiddish, Hebrew and Aramaic,” he said.
“In other contexts, no one questioned this. For example, if Hispanic children are taught in Spanish, people think it's a good thing, and it supports cultural differences. Public schools even teach in Spanish, and no one has any issues with it,” he said. “But for some reason, when it comes to this one group, people suddenly say, 'Wait a little, they're illiterate.' ”
September 2022, New York State Councilors Committee Approved requirements The district will decide whether private schools will provide “substantially comparable” instruction to public schools. 100 years.
The New York State letter to the two yeshivas was marked for the first time when it informed the school that it had lost public funds because it was not complying with substantial equivalent standards, sources told JNS.
According to US News & World Report, Kasho's Talmud Torah is 294 students 31 teachers. It was not immediately clear how many students there would be at Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel. (JNS has requested comment from both schools.)
an editorial Yeshiva World News said there must be more concerns about how the two yeshivas will affect all yeshivas across New York State.
“They are likely to be the face of the Yeshiva community, even though they are outliers and do not represent the majority of Yeshiva.”
The school gave the state a cold shoulder, saying, “The legal challenge of the Yeshiva community to the state's education department is pending in the state's Supreme Court of Appeals, New York. A decision is expected by the end of the school year.”
“It's always wise to make your point to the government rather than rejecting a response,” the editor added. “Yesiva should have shown pride and confidence to his students. Chinuch (Religious guidance). Explain the beauty of Torah education. Above all, don't tell the government that the rules don't apply to you. ”
The state told the school it made a decision after failing to respond to multiple requests, including setting up a site visit for each document JNS saw.
An editorial for Yeshiva World News sent the letter in pending law, saying the state was “motivated by its desire to sabotage these efforts rather than educational concerns.”
