Demonstrators gather on the steps of the state Education Building in Albany on Oct. 3, 2022, to protest state oversight of yeshivas.

The state Legislature recessed a week later than scheduled after enacting a budget over a month past the due date. But they found time to erode the state’s academic standards and accountability, along with the authority of the state Education Department to enforce them in private and religious schools.

Students in nonpublic schools are supposed to "have access to instruction comparable to their public school counterparts," per state regulations. But during the frenzied budget horse-trading back in May, Gov. Kathy Hochul inserted an amendment exempting those schools from rigorous state oversight. The measure watered down the requirements to make it significantly easier........

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