Multiple New York lawmakers said Friday a last-minute budget debate remains unsettled to amend state Education Department standards for religious and non-public schools in the budget, now 18 days late. 

With a conceptual deal on discovery about done, leaders are expected to revisit the debate to make it easier for nonpublic schools to satisfy state Education Department guidelines to teach a curriculum that's substantially equivalent to public districts.

"It was thrown on the table at the eleventh-and-a-half hour, and so the last week-and-a-half we've been talking about it," said state Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat who sits on the Education Committee.

The Assembly has pushed to change stricter substantial equivalency standards adopted by the Board of Regents in 2022, which requires nonpublic school students be taught math, science, English language arts and history in the English language.

There's talks to delay the standards from taking effect this June for several years, and give schools more time to meet the criteria and avoid losing government funding.

Multiple lawmakers have declined to comment on this issue without seeing official language or details of what the proposal is — and have been even more tight-lipped about the topic than in recent weeks. 

"It's a very vocal and articulate minority in the Legislature who are pushing these changes, but I think we're going to hold firm," Liu said.

The rules have been upheld multiple times in court, but the issue often resurfaces during budget talks as top Democrats eye making the change to boost their support in powerful voting blocs of Orthodox Jewish voters.

Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, a Democratic district leader in Brooklyn and member of the Education Committee, is open to giving nonpublic schools more time to meet the requirements.

"As a parent, as a former educator and as a New York state lawmaker, there is nothing more important to me than ensuring all of our children receive an excellent education," Bichotte Hermelyn said in a statement to Spectrum News 1. "...Laws and regulations that govern schools, public and nonpublic, must be positioned and applied from a place of support to ensure all schools have adequate resources to meet all government mandates as well as meet the instructional needs of all students. That is not currently the case.

“With the federal Department of Education being dismantled, it’s more important than ever to ensure New York state steps up to support every school in every community, particularly in the moment we are in," the assemblywoman added. "I believe in exploring a phase-in period regarding substantial equivalency to increase support, resources and partnership with all schools to ensure excellence reaches every ZIP code of our great city and state.”

Earlier this month, Gov. Hochul said she has not seen language to change the standards, but would not say where she stands on the issue.

State Republican leaders are in favor of delaying or changing the department's guidelines and would see its inclusion in the budget as a victory for parents' rights.

Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt said he's against backroom budget deals, but doesn't see Democrats in the Legislature making the change outside it, adding it's critical for Orthodox Jewish communities.

"They view this as an existential threat to their commuity and the continuation of how they want to educate their children," Ortt told reporters on April 9.

Education Department leaders have requested the Legislature not to play politics with education policy.

"The State Education Department is concerned that access to a high-quality education for every child could be traded away as part of a political deal to pass a state budget," SED spokesperson JP O'Hare said in a statement on March 27. "This appears to be an attempt by some legislators to go around our state’s courts and dismantle a law that has been in place for over a century."

The state Association of Independent Schools and Council of Catholic School Superintendents may be open to changes in the future, but opposes them being done in secret in the budget.

Other religious leaders agree the budget isn't the right place for the conversation.

"That doesn't make for good lawmaking," said the Rev. Jim Ketcham, an executive council member of the New York State Council of Churches. "We need debate, we need discussion, we need to hear from the affected parties and all the interested parties."

Sen. Liu said he's confident most members of the Legislature want to uphold the law, and the state Constitution.

"It's about our state Constitution and requiring that every kid in the state of New York has a sound, basic education, whether through public schools or through private schools at a very minimum standard," Liu said. "That's what's in place now and I think we should hold to that."

But ultimately, it will be up to Albany's infamous "three people in a room" who get the final say, and their political will to erode the education guidelines.

"Nobody else has a place at that table," Ketcham said. "There's an old saying, 'If you don't have a seat at the table, you are on the menu.'"

Assembly Education Committee chair Michael Benedetto and Senate Education Committee chair Shelley Mayer continue to decline comment.