A coalition of parents, advocates and a prominent education lawyer is suing New York state, accusing lawmakers of quietly gutting standards for religious schools and denying tens of thousands of Hasidic and Haredi children a basic education.
On Sept. 18, Michael Rebell, lead counsel and professor emeritus of law and educational practice at Teachers College, Columbia University, joined by the firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP and the Youth Advocacy and Policy Lab at Harvard Law School, announced the class-action lawsuit in Kings County Supreme Court.
Filed on behalf of four plaintiffs and an estimated 100,000 Hasidic and Haredi students, the suit names Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and the state of New York as defendants. It challenges a provision added to the state’s $237 billion fiscal year 2026 budget that rolls back education standards for nonpublic schools, including yeshivas.
New York’s Education Law Section 3204 requires that nonpublic school students, including those at religious schools, receive an education “substantially equivalent” to what public schools provide. That includes instruction in core subjects such as English, math and history. The New York State Education Department (NYSED) spent years drafting regulations to enforce those standards.
Education advocates attend a press conference announcing the filing of class action lawsuit aimed at strengthening protections for students in New York State.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Advocates say the new changes weaken those standards — particularly for yeshivas, which primarily focus on religious instruction in Hebrew and Yiddish — and limits the state’s ability to enforce compliance, stripping away testing requirements. Schools can now pick their own assessments, switch them at will and remain in compliance simply by offering the exams to a minimum number of students, regardless of how students score.
At a news conference outside Brooklyn Supreme Court, Rebell — who in 1993 led the landmark Campaign for Fiscal Equity case that secured recognition of the constitutional right to a “sound basic education” — called the carveout “outrageous.”
“It is outrageous that the governor and state legislative leaders absolved yeshivas from teaching basic American history, civics, science and other subjects to tens of thousands of students,” Rebell said.
“The Constitution requires that the state ensure all children, including those in nonpublic religious schools, are provided the opportunity for a sound, basic education,” he added. “New York’s highest court has emphasized that all students in the state need to receive such an education in order to function productively as capable citizens.”
Education advocate Michael Rebell speaks outside Brooklyn Supreme Court on Sept. 18, announcing a lawsuit against New York state over changes to education standards for yeshivas.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Rebell alleged the provision was added to curry favor with a politically powerful voting bloc.
“The leaders of this Hasidic sect are the same people who deny their kids a decent education that prepares them in any way for the world,” he said. “They are politically very savvy, and they go to the leading political leaders, and they make a deal with them, ‘You support whatever legislation we want, and we’ll deliver a big block of votes to you.’ And they can deliver, and they have, and they do.”
Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education (YADDED), said the lawsuit seeks to uphold every child’s right to a sound education. The nonprofit was founded by people raised in Hasidic and Haredi communities and advocates for higher educational standards in yeshivas.
“But too many Hasidic and Haredi children are being denied an education because the state has refused to guarantee it,” she said. “This lawsuit is about guaranteeing this right — and that means reversing the disastrous dismantling of substantial equivalency. We cannot accept a law that shirks the state’s responsibility to educate our students.”
YAFFED previously filed a complaint in 2015 alleging that 39 yeshivas in Brooklyn failed to provide state-mandated instruction. That complaint led to new regulations designed to strengthen oversight. In 2019, more than 1,000 students at a single Hasidic yeshiva failed state exams in reading and math.
A YAFFED report released in April linked inadequate education to persistent poverty in Hasidic communities, where 13% of Hasidic male youth did not speak English. The report found that 63% of the community lives below or near the poverty line and that Hasidic men earn 30% less than their non-Hasidic peers.
Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, executive director of YAFFED, speaks about the lawsuit she says is needed to protect the education rights of Hasidic and Haredi children.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Scott Kessler, 25, a former yeshiva student, has spoken publicly about his experience and advocates for children denied what he calls a civil right to basic education.
Kessler said he received about eight hours of secular instruction per week, though many yeshivas provided none. He said teachers were often unqualified.
“Our teachers didn’t know their subjects,” Kessler said. “For example, I had a math teacher who didn’t know the math he was teaching. The teacher was learning it on the go. He would grade our test wrong, and I would have to teach him how to do the math in order for him to grade the test correctly.”
Former yeshiva student Scott Kessler said denying Hasidic students basic education was a civil rights issue.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
“This is New York City in 2025, and kids are not being taught arithmetic, they’re not being taught biology, they’re not being taught American history or any history,” he added. “It’s just shameful.”
Kessler said his life changed when he transferred to public school at 16.
“Public school was one of the most important things to ever happen to me,” he said. “It shouldn’t be like that. Kids should be able to go to yeshiva and get a real quality education.”
State Sen. Robert Jackson, a Democrat who represents Washington Heights, Fort George and Inwood, said the lawsuit carries implications beyond the courts.
“It’s about whether New York State will honor its commitment to all of our children. That’s what this is about,” Jackson said. “Educational justice is the foundation for democracy, the doorway to opportunity, and the measure of whether we believe in fairness, not only in words, but in action. Action speaks louder than words, and until every child in every school has a fair chance to succeed, our work remains unfinished.”
Reps for Hochul, Heastie and Stewart-Cousins did not return a request for comment.