Going Out with a Bang

Compared to previous years, 5782 seemed to be winding to an uneventful close. There were no mayors or governors singling out the Jewish community for harsh polemics, there were no public officials resigning in disgrace, no riots or flames in Midtown. Even the pandemic seemed to have petered out, although government agencies were averse to surrendering the powers it conferred.

But that very lack of drama perhaps set the stage for a late-breaking power grab by New York’s Board of Regents. Days after acknowledging that the “vast majority” of the 350,000 comments the board received for its sweeping private school regulations were opposed to the measures, the Regents voted unanimously last Tuesday to assert control. A lawsuit is certain to be coming, meaning it will likely be years before the regulations can go into effect.

The Board claimed that public education officials, not parents, are the parties responsible for deciding how children should be taught: “The argument that parents have an unfettered right to dictate the degree of education their children receive has been repeatedly rejected by State and federal courts.” This issue, which has already riled up conservatives around the country, is likely to be at the core of any legal action.

The sudden year-end assault on religious rights also extended to Yeshiva University, the vaunted hub of Modern Orthodoxy. A state judge ordered it to recognize a student organization that runs counter to its religious values, with the Supreme Court rejecting a request to overturn it ahead of a trial. That forced YU to begin the appeals process in state court.