At a time when the U.S. Secretary of Education is advocating vigorously for public funding of religious schools across the nation, it is noteworthy that a Jewish advocacy group is demanding that the state set standards for Yeshivas, some of which do not offer instruction in English. Such a limited education does not prepare students to live in the modern world.
https://www.yaffed.org/lawsuit1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 23, 2018
Contact: Anat Gerstein, anat@anatgerstein.com, 646-321-4400
Lynsey Billet, lynsey@anatgerstein.com, 347-361-8449
YAFFED Files Federal Lawsuit Against New York Governor, NYS Education Commissioner, Board of Regents Chancellor Alleging Unconstitutional “Felder Amendment” Denies Yeshiva Students Right to Basic Education
Hundreds of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Support Schools that “Graduate” Students with Few Skills; Poverty Rates and Public Assistance Sky High
(New York, NY) – Today, Young Advocates for Fair Education (YAFFED), a nonprofit committed to improving educational curricula within ultra-Orthodox schools, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, and N.Y. Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa. YAFFED is represented by lawyers from the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP as pro-bono counsel.
The suit alleges that on April 12, 2018, when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a budget that included an amendment to New York Education Law, Section 3204, section 2, known as the “Felder Amendment”, New York created a carve-out to the statutory requirement of substantial equivalent instruction in non-public schools that applies to and is intended to benefit only certain ultra-Orthodox non-public schools. In doing so, New York violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The amendment to Section 3204 is the brainchild of State Senator Simcha Felder and ultra-Orthodox community leaders who oppose state oversight of yeshivas. Senator Felder attracted much attention in late March when he single-handedly held the 2018 state budget negotiations hostage, demanding the Education Law be changed to inoculate ultra-Orthodox Jewish non-public schools from oversight before agreeing to pass the budget.
“All across America, special interest groups and individuals seek to chip away at a child’s access and right to a comprehensive education. Nowhere have they been more successful than right here in New York, where many yeshivas have gotten away with providing no secular education at all, or at best a very limited one, to tens of thousands of children. This sub-standard secular education was codified into law with Senator Felder’s amendment.” said Naftuli Moster, YAFFED‘s Founder and Executive Director.
As of June 2018, there were 273 Orthodox yeshivas registered with the state; 211 of these yeshivas are located in Kings County. In 2013-14, there were over 52,000 students enrolled in 83 Hasidic schools in New York City, concentrated in the neighborhoods of Borough Park, Williamsburg, Crown Heights (all in Brooklyn). An additional 26,446 students were enrolled in Hasidic schools in places such as Monsey, New Square, and Kiryas Joel. Oversight of these schools by education officials in New York was already non-existent, resulting in many schools flouting state laws. It is projected that by 2030, between 8% and 13% of school-age children in New York City, and between 23% and 37% of school-age children in Brooklyn, will be Hasidic, meaning without action, even more students are on track to being denied a sound, basic education.
“The Felder Amendment tailors State oversight for a small subset of schools based on their religious affiliation, in a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. There is no secular legislative purpose for the Felder Amendment, which is seen by the ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious sects as an endorsement of their religious choice regarding education.” said Eric Huang, lead counsel for YAFFED.
Even though the new amendment creates a carve-out that relieves ultra-Orthodox yeshivas from following the rigorous standards set in state education laws for all other non-public schools, these yeshivas continue to benefit from hundreds of millions of tax-payer dollars annually. Federal money flows to yeshivas through programs such as Title I, II, and III; Head Start and child care contracts; the E-rate telecommunications program; and food programs. For example, non-public schools in the largely Hasidic neighborhood of East Ramapo received approximately $835 per student in federal Title funding in 2016-17. In addition, state and city funding is provided to yeshivas through Academic Intervention Services (AIS), Nonpublic School Safety Equipment (NPSE), Mandated Services Aid (MSA), the Comprehensive Attendance Program (CAP), EarlyLearn, Universal Pre-K, child care vouchers, and New York City Council discretionary funds.
It is a well-established fact, going back decades, that most Hasidic boys’ yeshivas, some Hasidic girls’ schools as well as non-Hasidic, ultra-Orthodox boys’ schools fail to provide a basic education to their students. Leaders in the ultra-Orthodox community often boast about the fact that many yeshivas focus on only providing students with a religious education, particularly for boys who are all expected to become rabbis. Few yeshivas administer state tests, including Regents exams, and most yeshivas do not award “graduates” a diploma, making post-secondary education nearly impossible.
The “Education Clause” in Article XI, section 1 of the New York State Constitution ensures the availability of a “sound basic education” to all children in the State and creates the right to adequate instruction along with all the resources that such instruction requires. For public schools, the curriculum for grades one through eight must include instruction in the subject areas of arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, the English language, geography, United States history, civics, hygiene, physical training, the history of New York State, and science. In high school, academic instruction must include instruction in the English language and its use, civics, hygiene, physical training, American history including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Many yeshivas fail to provide any instruction comparable to instruction in these subject areas.
At many ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, the language of instruction is almost exclusively Yiddish. From ages 7 to 12 many Hasidic boys receive instruction in basic English reading, writing, and arithmetic for only 90 minutes a day, four days a week.
Male students over the age of 13 often spend 12 hours a day receiving instruction only in Judaic studies with no secular instruction.
In a recent survey conducted by YAFFED, of 116 yeshiva graduates and parents of current students, not a single respondent said that their school provided instruction in every subject required by the state. In elementary schools, 65% of those who attended Hasidic yeshivas reported having received some education in English reading, 61% in English writing, and 65% in arithmetic. Less than a quarter (24%) reported learning U.S. History, and only 2% learned New York history. Only 8% of Hasidic boys in the survey received instruction in science, and 10% were taught geography. None recalled any education in art or music. Of the respondents who attended elementary-level Hasidic yeshivas for boys in New York City, 27% said they received no secular education at all in elementary school. At the high school level, 75% of respondents said they received no secular education at all, and for the 25% who did, it was typically optional and often discouraged. Only 14% of respondents said they learned English; 7% in mathematics; 18% in science; and 9% in social studies. None had art or music classes.
Not surprisingly, Hasidic families are at high-risk for poverty and reliance upon government assistance. Approximately 45% of Hasidic households in New York are poor and another 18% are near poor. In the largely Hasidic area of Williamsburg, the median household income is $21,502, compared to the Brooklyn median of $46,958 and the city median of $52,737. Hasidic communities in Brooklyn have a greater percentage of families receiving cash assistance, food stamps, public health care coverage, and Section 8 housing vouchers, as compared to Brooklyn and New York City as a whole. For example, 33.8% of Borough Park residents utilize Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamps; in Williamsburg, the number is an astounding 51.8%. The Brooklyn total is 23.8%, while 20.4% of all New York City residents receive SNAP food stamps.
The percentage of people in a heavily Hasidic district of Brooklyn utilizing public income support such as cash assistance (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicaid has increased dramatically in the last decade as the population grew rapidly without improvements in education. In Borough Park, 63.1% of the civilian non-institutionalized population receives public health care coverage, compared to 42.7% of all Brooklyn residents and 39.5% in New York City as a whole. In Williamsburg, the proportion of residents receiving public health coverage is 76.6%.
The ultra-Orthodox Satmar Hasidic town of Kiryas Joel was named the poorest town in the country in 2011, with 70 percent of the village’s 21,000 residents living in households whose income fell below the federal poverty threshold. And in 2018, the largely ultra-Orthodox town of New Square was found to be the poorest town in New York State.
“New York’s tens-of-thousands of yeshiva students deserve better – they deserve, like all students, the right to develop the skills that will enable them to lead independent, financially secure lives. With this lawsuit, we’re making it clear: Hasidic children have the right to the education that is constitutionally guaranteed to them by the state of New York.” concluded Moster.
About YAFFED
YAFFED is an advocacy group committed to improving educational curricula within ultra-Orthodox schools. We fervently believe that every child is entitled to a fair and equitable education that is in compliance with the law. Our work involves raising awareness about the importance of general studies education, and encouraging elected officials, Department of Education officials and the leadership of the ultra-Orthodox world to act responsibly in preparing their youth for economic sufficiency and for broad access to the resources of the modern world.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The government has been reluctant to enforce rules with religious groups that are insular and want live according to their religious principles. In Pennsylvania the government has left the Amish alone even though they only believe in the need for an eighth grade education. Unlike the Hassidim the Amish are a self contained group that does not look to the government for support.
I used to live near Monsey where many Hassidic families live. They were often at odds with the zoning laws in the town of Ramapo. It is important to understand that not all Orthodox Jews are like the Hassidim. I had an Orthodox student teacher. Her four children including her two daughters were going to college. When this woman got her master’s degree, she found a job in Kiryas Joel as an ESL teacher. She described the town as “a world apart.” She was not allowed to have a class library as this was “too secular.” She was permitted to have a book corner. Most of the students spoke little English despite being born in this country. They had a very limited exposure to anything outside their community.
If New York demands higher education standards from Hassidic communities, they are going to have to enforce it. Otherwise, the law will be ignored. If they do enforce the law, they can expect backlash. Democrats have been reluctant to interfere with extreme Orthodox communities as they vote in a block, and they vote Democratic.
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It all comes down to your last sentence. We are living in a time where “the party” is more important than the people it’s supposed to represent….sad.
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extreme Orthodox don’t vote “democrat” en masse.
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Simcha Felder, the lone State Senator who holds the balance of power in the State Senate, will vote with Republicans or Democrats, whichever party offers to protect his constituency more, shovel more public money to unregulated yeshivas.
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And by all accounts, ultra-Orthodox voters in Brooklyn largely vote in Mayoral elections as a bloc for whoever their religious leaders tell them to vote for.
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After much pressure (from the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, I believe), the NYC DOE opened an investigation into these yeshivas about three years ago. The DOE had promised that it would produce a report by September 2018. Then the city said it needed more time (which some charged was a tactic motivated by the Mayor’s desire to kick this down the road until after his November reelection). The DOE still hasn’t produced its report, and the city disclosed yesterday that it has visited only half of the yeshivas that it’s investigating. The Mayor must be loving this lawsuit, which surely will now provide the excuse to officially halt the investigation as the city awaits the legal guidance from the case’s outcome.
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YAFFED created a video addressed to Mayor de Blasio titled “Three Years is Enough!” Why no finding after three years of investigating the shabby education in yeshivas. Obviously pandering to the Orthodox voting bloc.
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I find it hard to believe that the same Mayor who is trying to enact policies like changing the SHSAT and various integration efforts which do NOT pander to his base but are the right thing to do, would somehow refuse to right thing because he wants to please the Orthodox voting bloc which has never supported him and never will.
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Here’s an article from two years ago, which asserted that “it is no longer possible” for the Mayor “to look the other way” on this issue. Turns out it was still possible and remains possible.
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-de-blasio-must-not-let-ultra-orthodox-jewish-votes-override-his-duty-to-the-law-1.5416573
Bill De Blasio Must Not Let ultra-Orthodox Jewish Votes Override His Duty to the Law
Eric H. Yoffie
Mayor De Blasio, stop ignoring the welfare of Jewish children. Stop supporting policies that condemn them to a lifetime of poverty and illiteracy. Stop depriving them of the possibility of an honorable livelihood. Stop making them dependent on all manner of government handouts.
The children that I am referring to are ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic boys who attend New York City yeshivas. There are at least 39 of these yeshivas where boys under the age of 13 get no more than 90 minutes of English and math a day. These subjects are taught by untrained and unlicensed teachers at the end of a long day otherwise devoted exclusively to religious studies, in which the language of instruction is usually Yiddish.
Many of these children cannot speak proper English or do simple mathematical calculations. They are being denied the decent education that is the right of every American child and that the City of New York is obligated to provide. And as Mayor, it is your job to see that it is provided.
Yes, I know. The ultra-Orthodox community votes, and votes in large numbers. A very high percentage of the community votes for you, following the instructions of their religious leaders. And many of these religious leaders are terrified at the prospect of exposing their children to secular subjects, seeing those subjects as temptations that might ultimately draw those children away from their religious community.
But Mr. Mayor, you have no choice here. You must ensure that these children are educated for two major reasons. First, it is the right thing to do. If ultra-Orthodox children choose to venture beyond the confines of their own community and to find their place in the larger world, that is a choice that they are entitled to make. If they do so, they will need the skills that only education can provide. And if they should choose to remain in their own community, they will still need the skills to support their families and escape the humiliating dependence on welfare payments to which so many have been condemned.
Second, New York State law requires that adequate education be offered to every single child, without exception. The law states that instruction given in private schools or in home schooling must be “substantially equivalent” to the education provided in public schools. It is an outrage and an embarrassment that you and previous mayors, bowing to political pressure, have chosen to ignore this law. The children involved have paid the price, and so too has the citizenry of New York. When a law of such import is ignored, it breeds disrespect for all laws and for the officials charged with enforcing them.
But as you know, Mr. Mayor, it is no longer possible to look the other way. Young Advocates for Fair Education (YAFFED), founded in 2012, identified the 39 yeshivas that, in its view, offer substandard education. A year ago, it demanded that the city’s education department investigate them. You have not yet responded to their demand, but YAFFED has made it clear that it will not let you off the hook. You and your education officials must give a proper accounting of what is being done for these children.
I know the pressure that you are under.
Grand Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the rebbe of the Kiryas Joel-based segment of the Satmar Hasidim, has viciously attacked those who challenge the right of his students to remain ignorant of secular subjects. “We should pray,” he said in a speech to his followers, “that these evil doers should not lay their hands on the Jewish children here in America.” And mainstream Jewish organizations, which should have the courage to speak out, have mysteriously remained silent.
Some American Jews even claim that freedom of religion, guaranteed by the constitution, allows the yeshivas the unrestricted right to teach what they please, even if that means no secular education at all. But as others have noted, this is a misreading of the constitution, not to mention an affront to common sense.
There are certain things that the state can reasonably compel its citizens to do, and meeting appropriate educational standards is one of them. Freedom of religion does not give parents the right to deny their children the medical care they need to live, the seat belts they need to be safe, or the basic educational literacy they need to survive in society. Mr. Mayor, please remember that every single state has educational requirements similar to those in New York. And just as they are enforced elsewhere, they must be enforced in New York City as well.
Mr. De Blasio, I am confident that the people of New York City and New York State support the law as it now stands. And while you should enforce the law because it is your duty to do so, you should know how the overwhelming majority of Jews, including Orthodox Jews, view this matter. They see no religious reason why observant Jews should not also study secular subjects and learn the skills required to participate in the workplace and support their children. In fact, for almost all of the Jewish community, this is pretty much of a no-brainer.
New York’s Yeshiva University is evidence of that, and so too are the many yeshivas where the study of secular subjects is encouraged. Most Jews in New York, like most Jews everywhere, believe what was taught by Maimonides, the great 12th century Jewish scholar, taught: “He who dedicates himself to studying Torah but does not work, and instead lives off charity, profanes the name of God and disgraces the Torah.”
Mr. Mayor, do not abandon the yeshiva students of New York. Make sure their schools teach what they are supposed to teach. Enforce the law.
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FLERP!,
Can you please cite the evidence that this article that you quote is correct and “A very high percentage of the [ultra-Orthodox] community votes for you [Mayor de Blasio], following the instructions of their religious leaders.”
In fact, what IS true is that the politician the ultra-Orthodox vote for is Andrew Cuomo. Who just happens to be Mayor de Blasio’s sworn enemy – especially on education issues. Cuomo has not just covered for the ultra-Orthodox in NYC, but also in Ramapo, where the ultra Orthodox have behaved abominably and yet Cuomo has done almost nothing.
There IS an investigation into yeshivas. It is supposed to be released by September 2018. I assume it will be released soon.
The NYC Controller Scott Stringer did an investigation into Success Academy — a single entity — that took years and years longer than it should and it turned out he refused to look at anything but the financing. Now it is possible that Scott Stringer is as corrupt as you believe de Blasio is because when Stringer’s “investigation” was finally released years late, it turned out Stringer only investigated finances and refused to look at the real corruption — the extraordinarily high suspension rates for 5 and 6 year old children, the high flunking rates for at-risk students, and the high attrition rates for at-risk students.
No doubt if de Blasio does a limited investigation that only looks at the financing of yeshiva schools and nothing else as Stringer did with Success Academy, you would have a very good case that there is something rotten going on. If de Blasio covers up for yeshivas the way Stringer (and the entire SUNY Charter Institute) does for Success Academy — by not investigating the most corrupt practices — I would agree with you, FLERP!, that something rotten is going on. Let’s see if the cover-up for yeshivas is as bad as the cover up for Success Academy.
After all, if you refuse to examine closely at the very thing that an educational institution is doing wrong, you can offer up a whitewashed report. We know that this is done by the SUNY Charter Institute with regards to Success Academy. I hope the de Blasio administration is not as corrupt as the SUNY Charter Institute is when it comes to covering up the bad practices of educational institutions.
I am looking forward to seeing the report before September.
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GOOD for them; we need more of this type of action!
The funding of NOT REALLY public schools, squashing the constitutional separation of church & state, is not to be allowed on any level, & especially so when the “education” provided is so limited (& sexist, as well).
A shonda, to be sure.
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It’s obvious that Bill Gates wouldn’t be interested in school testing in the orthodox segment, the profit potential for the target group isn’t great enough.
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