Here is an update to a previously published story (at the bottom of this article).
As we reported several years ago, New York DOE wanted to enforce a “substantial equivalency” rule requiring private schools to demonstrate they are equal to their public counterparts in educational quality. However, there were a few problems in the interpretation of the rule.
A judge has now ruled that parents cannot be forced to withdraw students from private schools that fail to demonstrate the school meets the self-designated state standards.
The Associated Press reported the ruling “came in response to a lawsuit brought by ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools…and related advocacy groups. Under the rules, the state’s 1,800 private and religious schools must provide an education that is “substantially equivalent” to that of a public school.
Although Judge Christina Ryba rejected an argument that the state regulations were unconstitutional, she did contend that state officials overstepped their authority in setting penalties for schools that don’t adhere to them.
Our friends at CAPE haver reported that a judge on the New York State Supreme Court has struck down the State Education Department’s “substantial equivalency” guidance as being in violation of the State Administrative Procedures Act. This decision renders the substantial equivalency guidance issued on November 20, 2018, null and void and puts on ice, for now, a frontal attack on private school autonomy.