If parents want to deprive their children of an education that meets basic standards in reading, writing, math, science and other subjects, there's no legal requirement that the state of New York do anything about that, lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James's office told a court last week.
The state's position comes in opposition to a lawsuit brought in state court against the governor and legislative leaders by a group of current and former students of ultra-Orthodox yeshivas. In their lawsuit, the students describe curricula in their schools with minimal history, science, English, or math instruction. They say the state leadership is failing in its obligation under the New York constitution and its education laws to guarantee them a basic education, thanks to recent legislation that allows their yeshivas to wriggle out of state standards.
The immediate stakes in the lawsuit concern the yeshivas whose educational standards have been found wanting. Will their students receive an education that meets the state's baseline standards? But the lawsuit also poses a more fundamental question: Does the state actually have an obligation and the authority to make sure every child, even those in private schools, receives an education that makes them competent to participate in society? Or is it only required to make such an education available through public schools, and if parents choose to put their kids in a private program that doesn't meet that standard, the kids are just out of luck?