Several Democratic lawmakers, including Orthodox Jewish legislators, said Monday that changes to New York State Education Department regulations in the budget will allow nonpublic schools in the state to thrive.

The budget enacted Friday alters the pathways that religious and nonpublic schools can use to prove to the department they provide an education that is "substantially equivalent" to public districts. The budget expands which tests can be used to satisfy the department's guidelines, and will gradually phase in compliance with elementary schoolers through the year 2032.

"Parents get to choose how to bring up their children and without the interference of government, and without the government's foot on their necks," Assemblyman Kalman Yeger told Spectrum News 1. "It's smart, it's good public policy. And really, people need to think about whether or not it's important for nonpublic schools to be substantially equivalent to the public schools, or whether the public schools ought to start trying to be a little more equivalent to the private schools that do a great job educating our children."

Yeger, a Democrat from Brooklyn, said his robust education at a yeshiva best prepared him to be in the state Legislature. He argues yeshiva students have a higher rate of attendance and lower rate of violent incidents than public schools.

"If the state is going to put its foot on the neck of schools that do incredible work, let's do it right," Yeger said on the Assembly floor before voting in favor of the measure.

The state Board of Regents adopted stricter nonpublic school standards in 2022. State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa has blasted Hochul and the Legislature for playing politics with the guidelines. 

An official with the department said the budget rolls back the rules and makes meaningful enforcement nearly impossible, adding it will weaken accountability by permitting the use of outdated and unvetted assessments for students. 

"The governor and Legislature’s politically motivated dismantling of New York’s substantial equivalency law is a clear and deliberate retreat from educational responsibility," SED spokesperson JP O'Hare said in a statement Monday. "Delaying enforcement until the 2032–33 school year effectively grants nonpublic schools nearly a decade of unchecked operation, allowing entire cohorts of students to move through elementary and middle school without any assurance of a basic education. The plan further weakens accountability by permitting the use of outdated, unvetted assessments and setting an unacceptably low proficiency threshold at the 33rd percentile. Even more troubling, schools would be allowed to switch oversight pathways at will, undermining consistency and making meaningful enforcement nearly impossible. It also strips school districts of their role in reviewing nonpublic schools, removing a critical safeguard for students. This is not responsible policymaking, it’s educational malpractice and an abandonment of New York’s obligation to every child."

Rosa and the Orthodox Jewish community have a tense relationship after over a decade of legal challenges. 

"I think she ought to focus more on failing public schools in this state," Yeger said. "The Legislature makes the law — not the State Department of Education."

Lawmakers said the commissioner isn't voted into office and should not dictate policy like the governor and the Legislature.

Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein said SED's focus on the issue is driven by a hatred of his community.

“Only those driven by hate share the agenda of not allowing schools enough time to come fully in compliance, while simultaneously demonstrating continuous progress throughout its school system," said Eichenstein, a Democrat from Brooklyn. "That’s simply not how any other school system would be treated throughout this state. Unfortunately, SED has not been willing to be a real and productive partner, but instead has chosen to cater to a small, yet vocal, minority that are on a smear campaign of our school system. Instead of SED’s obsession with falsely portraying these schools in a negative light through constant leaks to the press, it is high time for them to look in the mirror and work toward ensuring that all children receive a high-quality education, one that I was fortunate enough to receive during my yeshiva years.”

Assemblyman Sam Berger, a Democrat from Queens, also supported the changes, and said would not be as successful without his yeshiva education. 

"It's a shame that a few vocal critics, many of whom have never stepped foot in a yeshiva, feel entitled to tell me whether or not my education is good enough," Berger told Spectrum News 1 on Monday. "My yeshiva education carried me through law school, the Bar and the New York State Assembly. Respectfully, if this issue was grounded in reality, we would be looking at outcomes, not perceptions."

Other Jewish-American members of the Legislature, like Senate Finance Committee chair Liz Krueger, spoke out against the changes from the beginning of the conversation. 

But lawmakers against it did not win over Hochul and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's intent for the rules to be tweaked in the final deal.

The Manhattan senator says she expects, and welcomes, the changes to be challenged in the courts.

"Courts use what is said on the floor of the Senate when determining their understanding of the debate or the leading up to changes in law in court cases; I very much am hoping the courts challenge what we are doing today," Krueger said on the floor Thursday. "I want to go on record for some future court case. The issue is not religious freedom. This issue is about a child's right to an education, beginning and period."

Assembly Education Committee Chair Michael Benedetto continues to decline comment on the issue.

Senate Education Committee chair Shelley Mayer broke her silence on this issue on the Senate floor last week. The senator in a statement Monday said she's deeply disheartened by the changes the budget makes to substantial equivalency.

"The State Education Department went through a lengthy process to develop regulations on substantial equivalency, engaging stakeholders and seeking public comment," Mayer said. "Those regulations have been upheld in court and the vast majority of non-public schools are complying with them without issue. This budget undercuts those efforts and will deny an entire generation of students the opportunity they are entitled to under our constitution and state law to receive a sound, basic education. I am profoundly disappointed that we are walking away from these students.”

New York City Education Committee chair Sen. John Liu said the changes were a significant issue this budget cycle, but are not as dire as people opposed to them have made them out to be.

"What we did in this budget was to allow them to phase in the requirements so they can ultimately comply, and that I believe is their intent to comply with the substantial equivalency requirements at the end of the day," Liu said. "We want all kids to have a sound, basic education...I think this puts us on a path to make sure all these school kids will have a sound, basic education. It may take us a few more years to get there, but we'll get there."

The budget is likely to delay the State Education Department's expected report next month announcing which schools did not meet the requirements and stand to lose government funding.

Assemblyman David Weprin, a Democrat from Queens, said more time for schools to comply is a positive thing for state education as a whole.

"The guidelines should not have been so rigid," Weprin said. "They didn't give a chance for these other schools that might not meet the substantially equivalent standards to be looked at more analytically."