Albany, N.Y., Dec 12, 2018 / 13:01 pm
Leaders of New York state's more than 500 Catholic schools are planning to boycott a new state review system, whereby public school officials would evaluate religious schools to determine whether they offer a "substantially equivalent" education to public schools.
"The parents who choose our schools can have great confidence in the academic rigor of our schools," James Cultrara, executive secretary of the New York Council of Catholic School Superintendents, was quoted as saying in Times Union.
"We simply cannot accept a competing school having authority over whether our schools can operate."
The rebuke to the state comes after New York's education commissioner released guidelines Nov. 20 "to ensure that all students receive the education to which they are entitled under law," i.e. exposure to the same basic courses such as English, civics, and mathematics that public school students take.