Fierce debate over standards for religious schools prompted last-minute budget delays

Debates over substantial equivalency education standards stole the show as protracted budget negotiations neared their close. Hochul’s insistence on discovery reform took much of the blame for the late budget, but hangups over education standards in private religious schools proved a sticking point in the days before the state’s $254 billion spending plan was finalized. The last-minute fight over substantial equivalency standards, which pit much of the state Senate against both Assembly leadership and the governor, contributed to the delays that made this year’s budget the most overdue since 2010.

Communities with Hasidic and Haredi yeshivas, like those in Brooklyn and parts of the Hudson Valley, viewed regulations that require them to comply with state education standards as government overreach and wanted to delay or eliminate the requirement. But advocates and some lawmakers were worried about watering down the quality of education for some of New York's students.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Gov. Kathy Hochul did not object to the relaxing of substantial equivalency standards, multiple sources told City & State. Heastie has several members representing communities that oppose substantial equivalency, and there’s been speculation that Hochul is attempting to shore up her reputation in the Orthodox community. 

But some in the state Senate were fiercely opposed to any attempts to weaken substantial equivalency – none more so than state Sen. Liz Krueger, who ended up being the lone dissenter when all was said and done. Krueger, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is very close to state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and her fierce opposition to the proposed changes to substantial equivalency was reflected in budget negotiations, with the state Senate continuing to do its due diligence on the legislation as late as Monday.

“They just got worn out by people coming back from meetings saying the governor and Carl Heastie are not letting go of this, and if we don't put something in, we never get a budget,” Krueger told City & State. “I think we were 40 days late when we finally finished last night, (and) as it's getting later and later and later, and people are getting more and more frustrated, and some people are going, ‘I can't pay my mortgage.’ Yes, does it wear them down? It does, but it's not like they changed their position and suddenly supported it. We had almost no support for it in my conference.”

Krueger said she cashed in a fair amount of political capital in her attempt to stop the changes to substantial equivalency and was deflated when the changes were included in the final budget despite her efforts. Other lawmakers, like Rockland Assembly Member Aron Wieder, rejoiced at the news. 

“Let me be clear, the push for substantial equivalency is the greatest hoax in the state of New York,” Wieder told his colleagues while voting on the Education, Labor and Family Assistance budget bill. “The claim that children in Hasidic schools aren’t receiving a proper education is simply false, it’s a rotten red herring.”