Senate Republican Leader Ortt Calls for Repeal of SED’s “Substantial Equivalency” Regulations in State Budget

April 8, 2025

(ALBANY, NY) – New York Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt today blasted the State Education Department’s controversial “substantial equivalency” regulations and demanded their repeal in the final state budget agreement. Ortt criticized Albany Democrats for failing to take a strong stance against the substantial equivalency mandates.

“Our state’s woke, big-government education agenda has gone too far in targeting religious education,” said Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt. “For too long, Albany bureaucrats and radical progressives have been waging war on parental rights in education and trampling on religious schools' autonomy. We don’t need to just delay these attacks, we need to end them.”

Media reports have suggested that Albany Democrats are weighing whether to delay the substantial equivalency requirements during the already delayed state budget negotiations. Senator Rob Ortt suggested he and his Senate Republican colleagues are prepared to support removing these education mandates altogether.

“It’s time to protect parents’ right to choose what’s best for their children’s education and scrap these substantial equivalency rules in the budget, once and for all,” continued Senator Rob Ortt. “The Senate Republican Conference stands firm in the belief that parents should decide their children’s education, not SED bureaucrats. It’s time for these big-government regulations to be repealed.”