Incoming NYC Comptroller Says He Will Push Yeshivas to Teach Secular Subjects
New York City’s incoming comptroller, Brad Lander, said that he would use all of his power and resources to force yeshivas into teaching secular curriculum. “The state law is very clear that all schools, including private and parochial schools, have an obligation to deliver substantially comparable and competent secular education, especially where the city is contracting with those schools for transportation and books,” said Lander, who is a Jew • Full Story
Yeshiva World News
New York City’s incoming comptroller, Brad Lander, said that he would use all of his power and resources to force yeshivas into teaching secular curriculum.
“The state law is very clear that all schools, including private and parochial schools, have an obligation to deliver substantially comparable and competent secular education, especially where the city is contracting with those schools for transportation and books,” Lander, who is a Jew, told the JTA.
“It is a responsibility of the city as a whole and the comptroller in particular to be paying attention and audit and make sure those obligations are being met,” he added.
The issue of teaching secular subjects in yeshivas has been a matter of heated debate in recent years. On one side are a group of people who say that yeshivas have the obligation to teach secular subjects, while on the other side, many say that the law infringes on the religious freedoms of yeshivas to determine what subjects are appropriate to teach their students.
As comptroller, Lander will have the power to audit yeshivas and determine whether they are meeting state requirements for secular subjects, though he noted that he does not have the power to force them to change their curricula.
“This is critical,” Lander said, speaking to the New York Jewish Agenda, a liberal group he co-founded. “Making sure that all our schools, including our yeshivas, provide the education that our kids need and deserve is part of our job together and one that I’m going to be spending time on.”
Lander also noted that the district he served for a decade as a city councilmember prior to being elected comptroller, has a large number of non-frum, liberal Jews as well as some frum ones.
“My district has the Jews on probably the furthest left of the spectrum and the furthest right of the spectrum in New York City,” he said. “I love my [Jewish] practice. That said, I have been enriched as an elected official and as a Jew by my engagement with our frum cousins.”
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