Statement on New Substantial Equivalency Regulation

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Statement on New Substantial Equivalency Regulation

September 12, 2022

Following is a statement from Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, on behalf of the New York State Council of Catholic School Superintendents, regarding the regulation to be adopted today by the Board of Regents in relation to New York State law requiring nonpublic schools to provide quality secular educations that are substantially equivalent to public schools:

“We’re grateful to Commissioner Rosa and the Regents for the seriousness with which they considered this issue. Every child in New York State deserves a quality education, and our Catholic schools have always been more than happy to demonstrate that we are substantially equivalent to — and often exceed — public schools in the education we provide. We are particularly grateful that the Regents have come to a solution that allows multiple pathways to demonstrate substantial equivalency, without burdensome and potentially problematic reviews by local public school districts.

“We’re confident that all of the Catholic schools in the state will be deemed substantially equivalent under the new guidelines. Our tuition-paying families have already deemed us so for generations.”

The Catholic Conference represents Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Bishops of New York State in public policy matters.