Statement from Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt

Today’s decision by the Board of Regents reaffirms that New York Democrats are leading the charge to attack Hasidic yeshivas in our state. It’s a sad day when government-empowered bureaucrats have the power to declare war against religious freedom, parental rights, and school choice.

This coordinated campaign is just one part of the radical Democrats’ mission to stomp out New Yorkers’ right to educational freedom. Hasidic Jews have been the target of arbitrary and discriminatory government mandates. And they have been the target of rising hate crimes egged on by Albany’s pro-criminal agenda.

Now they are being told they cannot educate their own children in their own communities.

I believe that parents, families, and communities have the right to determine how education should work for their children. Religious freedom is at the very foundation of our country. The Hasidic community deserves much better from our state.

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