There is nothing more important to our yeshivos than their autonomy

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fter years of wrestling with the issue of “substantial equivalency” — the requirement under New York law that private schools (including yeshivos) must provide an education that is substantially equivalent to that provided in neighboring public schools — the New York State Board of Regents has finally adopted new equivalency regulations.

The original regulations proposed by the State Education Department (SED) in 2019 included a detailed checklist of courses that must be offered in private schools, including requirements for the number of hours necessary to devote to certain subjects, and would have clearly been a disaster for the entire yeshivah community. With great siyata d’Shmaya and a record-shattering grassroots outpouring of some 140,000 letters, petitions, and comments from opponents of the regulations, the State Education Department (SED) pulled those proposed regulations and went back to the drawing board.