Reply To: Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah Fighting NY Department of Education

1. Parents have an inalienable natural right to choose how to bring up and educate their children. Even if that vastly differs from the choices of the majority population.

2. The, by far, primary reason Orthodox Jews are overrepresented in statistics of government needs based social safety net program participation, such as SNAP and HUD, is because of large family sizes. it really is that simple. You can be making a lot of money, but with a lot of children, K”H, you *will* qualify for those programs. Period. So while the average heimishe Yid earns MORE than the average goy, the former is getting programs for his family of 9 while the latter is not for his family of 3 and a dog.

So even with his public school education the average goy is making less than a Chareidi Yid with his Yeshiva education. Clearly the Yeshiva is not a cause of lower income later in life.

3. New York yeshiva students are outperforming their public school peers in the four core subjects of English, math, science, and history – by far. This fact is clearly bore out by data from the Regents examination scores. They show yeshivas earning 19 of the top 20 average private school scores in New York’s English Language Arts exam. Beis Yaakov High School of Boro Park’s 91.1 average was the highest in the state, with Bobov’s Congregation Machna Shalva, Shaare Torah, and Bais Yaakov Academy in Flatbush coming in with 89.6, 87.3 and 87.2, respectively – well ahead of the local public school average of 58.4. In Rockland County, Bais Yaakov of Ramapo’s 88.1 average surpassed the public school’s 63.4.

Rounding out the top 20 with average scores of 85.4 or better were, Torah Vodaath High School, Congregation Machne Chaim, Mesivta Tiferes Yisroel, Bais Yaakov High School of Spring Valley, Bais Menachem, Rambam Mesivta – Maimonides High School, Shulamis, Bais Brocho of Karlin Stolin, and Yeshiva Ohr Shraga D’Veretzky in Flatbush.

In the Algebra 2/Trigonometry exam, yeshivas earned nine of the top 10 private school scores in the state. Seven out of the top 10 private school scores reported in the Global History Regents exam were also earned by yeshivas. While Brooklyn schools averaged a score of 64.7, Bobov’s Congregation Machna Shalva and Bais Yaakov High School tied for the second highest average with a score of 92.7, two tenths of a point ahead of the Bais Esther School. Similar results were seen in the Physics Regents, where the highest average score in the state – 90.1 – was earned by Shevach High School in Queens, closely followed by Yeshiva of Far Rockaway and Torah Academy for Girls High School, while local public school students averaged just 71.8. And in Brooklyn, Mesivta Tiferes Yisroel’s average of 88.1 was well ahead of the public school average of 73.2.