New York Has an Obligation to Secure the Education of Hasidic Children

It is an essential obligation of state government and foundational to life and liberty: New York requires children to go to school and to receive instruction in English and math and other basic skills that are necessary for participation in our democratic society.

But New York has failed to fully enforce those laws. An education system that contains some of the finest schools in the nation also contains some that are profoundly struggling, whether public or private, religious or secular. This past week, new attention has fallen on how state and city officials have allowed tens of thousands of Hasidic children to attend schools that openly flout the state’s requirements. Former students have testified that upon graduation, they were unable to read in English or even write their own names.