Zebrowski bill to improve non-public school education

A Rockland County assemblyman wants to give teeth to a 90-year-old law designed to guarantee private school students a sound education.

Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, is working on a bill that allows the state to enforce the legal standard of “substantial equivalence.”

One of the penalties for schools that don't comply is withholding of state aid.

Zebrowski announced the bill just days after families in his district filed a federal class action lawsuit against the state and the East Ramapo school district seeking improved secular studies in four Hasidic yeshivas.

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“This is something that myself and my office have been researching for a number of months now but the lawsuit pushed us to go from research to finally authoring a law,” he said. “I don’t think parents or students should have to resort to the courts in order to receive a quality education in New York.”

The current law, passed in 1928, holds district superintendents responsible for ensuring that the quality of private schools' education is similar to that of public schools in the same region. It does not, however, require any tests to prove it.

Jeanne Beattie, State Education Department spokeswoman Jeanne Beattie told The Journal News in September that her department is "unaware of any penalties exacted against districts or superintendents for failure to determine substantial equivalence."

In other words, it has never been enforced.

The new bill places the responsibility for enforcement with the Commissioner of the State Education Department. It requires that nonpublic schools provide an education that is “similar in rigor, allotted time, and subject” to public schools but it does not require the use of any particular curriculum. Zebrowski seeks to create a formal process for parent to complain to the Commissioner and for the state to investigate such complaints, culminating in a report.

If a private school is found not to be offering a "substantially equivalent" education, the legislation gives the Commissioner several options to persuade a school to comply:

*Imposing a corrective action plans with the district

*Installing a temporary observer in private schools

*Suspending a school’s registration

*Withholding "any apportionment or grant of mandated services aid”

And, if those fail:

*Permanently revoking a school's registration and prohibiting it from operating.

Zebrowski said he expected these rules to apply to very few schools and that the majority of the region's private schools "provide an appropriate education.  I’m not targeting private schools. I’m looking to benefit children."

To ensure that his bill isn't putting "further unfunded mandates on our school districts," Zebrowski said he will likely ask Governor Andrew Cuomo to include additional funding for the State Education Department in his 2016 budget.

The Assemblyman said he expects broad support for his bill.

"We will see. When you propose legislation, where you get support and opposition can always be a surprise."

Twitter: @ASKSanders