A high-stakes class-action fight over what counts as a basic education for students in ultra-Orthodox yeshivas has jumped from budget negotiations in Albany to a Brooklyn courtroom, pulling a long-simmering debate back into public view. Plaintiffs argue that changes tucked into last year’s state budget watered down rules meant to guarantee instruction in English, math, science and civics for children in private religious schools.
A new TV report that aired on April 24, 2026 put the dispute back in front of New Yorkers. According to CBS News New York, the class-action asks whether the state is doing enough to make sure yeshivas provide a basic secular education.
The suit was filed in Kings County Supreme Court on Sept. 18, 2025 by attorney Michael Rebell. It seeks to undo FY2026 budget language that advocates say gutted enforcement of the state’s “substantial equivalency” rules. According to a YAFFED press release, the plaintiffs say the changes will leave roughly 100,000 yeshiva students without enforceable protections, while court documents lay out allegations about minimal secular instruction in many schools.
How We Got Here
This fight did not spring up overnight. The controversy traces back to a probe that began in 2015 and picked up steam after investigative reporting and city reviews in 2022 and 2023 flagged weaknesses in secular instruction at a number of yeshivas. The City reported that the Department of Education found gaps in reading, math and social studies at several schools, which helped spur statewide regulatory work…