New York State Shuts Down Two Hasidic Yeshivas Over Failure to Provide Secular Education

New York State Shuts Down Two Hasidic Yeshivas Over Failure to Provide Secular Education

Edited by: TJVNews.com

For the first time in New York’s history, state education officials have cut off funding to Hasidic-run schools that have refused to meet minimum educational standards, marking a significant escalation in the state’s oversight of religious education. According to a report that appeared on Friday in The New York Times, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) announced it will no longer fund two all-boys yeshivas in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, due to their persistent failure to provide students with the basic secular education required by state law.

The state’s move effectively closes the schools, as all enrolled students must be transferred to other institutions by fall of 2025. This unprecedented action follows years of allegations that some Hasidic yeshivas systematically deny children fundamental skills in English, math, and science, leaving graduates unprepared for adult life in modern society. As The New York Times reported, the closure of these schools is the most aggressive measure New York has taken to enforce educational standards in the Hasidic community.

The state’s decision comes nearly a decade after complaints first surfaced in 2015, when a group of yeshiva graduates filed a formal complaint alleging that their schools had failed to provide even a rudimentary secular education. According to the information provided in The New York Times report, these complaints prompted a lengthy and contentious investigation into Hasidic-run schools, where students spend the majority of their time studying religious texts in Yiddish and Hebrew, with little to no instruction in English, history, mathematics, or science.

The Hasidic community’s resistance to state oversight in education has long been a contentious issue in New York politics, with Hasidic leaders leveraging their significant voting power to push back against regulatory efforts. As The New York Times reported, this resistance has often made it politically challenging for state officials to enforce education laws, making the current enforcement action a groundbreaking shift in the state’s approach.

The two Williamsburg-based schools, Yeshiva Talmud Torah of Kasho and Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel of Sopron, were singled out due to their outright refusal to cooperate with state officials. While other yeshivas under investigation at least engaged in discussions about improving their curriculum, these two institutions declined to meet with education authorities altogether, as reported by The New York Times.

Rachel Connors, a spokesperson for the NYSED, stated that the state gave noncompliant schools multiple opportunities to discuss an improvement plan.

“In December 2024, the department wrote to noncompliant schools, inviting them to meet and urging them to re-engage in the process to avoid the consequences associated with final negative determinations,” Connors told The New York Times. “Schools that did not re-engage have been deemed schools that do not provide compulsory education.”

Because these two yeshivas refused to even acknowledge state oversight, the education department ruled them as noncompliant institutions, effectively revoking their ability to operate.

One of the schools, Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel of Sopron, was inspected by city education officials in 2019, and their findings painted a disturbing picture of the school’s academic environment. According to the information in The New York Times report, state investigators found no visible evidence that students were being taught any core subjects in English.

“Inspectors did not observe any instruction, taught in English, in the core academic subjects of English, history, mathematics and science,” a 2019 report from the city’s Education Department revealed.

This lack of secular instruction violates New York’s compulsory education law, which mandates that all children—regardless of whether they attend public, private, or religious schools—must receive an education that is ‘substantially equivalent’ to that of public schools.

While these closures represent a major step forward in enforcing educational laws, the reality is that most of the yeshivas under investigation have yet to face any real consequences. According to the report in The New York Times, many other Hasidic schools have similarly failed to implement adequate secular education, yet only these two institutions are being shut down at this time.

This raises critical questions about whether the state intends to expand enforcement actions against other noncompliant schools in the future. Education advocates argue that the state’s actions must go further, while Hasidic leaders and some elected officials claim that government intervention in religious schools is an overreach.

The Hasidic community’s response to the crackdown has been mixed. Spokespeople for organizations that represent yeshivas declined to comment when approached by The New York Times, but an editorial in Yeshiva World News, a Hasidic news outlet, acknowledged the strategic mistake made by the two yeshivas that refused to cooperate.

“It is always wiser to make your case to government rather than to refuse to respond,” the editorial stated. “That makes it seem like they had something to hide. The yeshivas should have demonstrated pride and confidence in their students.”

As The New York Times reported, the state did not close the schools based on their curriculum but rather on their refusal to engage with the oversight process. This distinction highlights how some yeshivas have actively resisted government efforts to ensure students receive basic secular instruction.

The state’s scrutiny of Hasidic yeshivas intensified after a 2022 investigative report by The New York Times uncovered serious educational failings in many of these institutions. The report found that scores of all-boys yeshivas in Brooklyn and the lower Hudson Valley failed to provide even basic nonreligious education, despite collectively receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding.

The New York Times investigation also uncovered cases of corporal punishment in some yeshivas, further raising concerns about oversight and accountability within these schools.

In response, city and state education officials conducted a review in 2023, ultimately determining that 18 Hasidic yeshivas failed to provide an adequate secular education. However, instead of immediately cutting off funding, state officials offered multiple chances for these schools to demonstrate their willingness to improve.

The two yeshivas that are now losing their funding—Yeshiva Talmud Torah of Kasho and Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel of Sopron—were part of this broader group. However, unlike other yeshivas that engaged in discussions with the state, these two schools flatly refused to participate, leading to the state’s decision to withdraw funding and force their closure by fall 2025.

The issue of Hasidic yeshiva oversight has long been politically sensitive, with Hasidic leaders wielding significant influence in local elections. Mayor Eric Adams, a longtime ally of the Hasidic community, has been noticeably silent on the matter. A spokeswoman for the mayor told The New York Times that the city would “defer to the state” on the issue but declined to offer further comment.

However, education advocates say the state’s move should serve as a wake-up call for other noncompliant schools.

“We hope this serves as a wake-up call for other schools that continue to disregard essential academic standards,” said Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, director of Yaffed, an advocacy group for former yeshiva students who support stronger secular education standards.