2 NYC yeshivas are not meeting standards and must effectively close, state rules
( JTA ) — The New York State Education Department is cutting off public funding to two Brooklyn yeshivas and ordering parents to find alternative educational arrangements for their children next year, citing the schools’ failure to meet secular education standards. It’s the most significant set of consequences faced by any school in the ongoing fight between education officials and Hasidic institutions in New York over laws requiring that yeshivas, like all schools, meet standards in core subjects like English and math. After years of battles in court, the halls of government and the public square, this is the first time the state has effectively closed a Hasidic school. The two yeshivas are in Williamsburg, the center of the city’s Satmar Hasidic community. They are Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel of Sopron, which runs schools in two locations for different age groups, and Talmud Torah of Kasho. They were notified of the enforcement decisions on Feb. 11 after ignoring final warnings is...
