Four Brooklyn yeshivas filed a federal civil rights complaint on Monday against New York saying tougher review practices that found major deficiencies in the education provided at some ultra-religious schools discriminate against Jews. In a 20-page filing, Bobover Yeshiva Bnei Zion, Oholei Torah, United Talmudical Academy, and Yeshiva Mesivta Arugas Habosem said reviewers refused to credit instruction from Jewish Studies and interfered in their hiring, among other objections to the process. YeshivaGardiner Anderson/for New York Daily NewsUnited Talmudical Academy’s, Central UTA Boys Division at 762 Wythe Ave. in Williamsburg Brooklyn. “Taken together, these discriminatory practices would strip the Yeshivas of their essential Jewish character,” wrote Avi Schick, an attorney for the yeshivas at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. “If they can’t devote sufficient time to Jewish Studies with instruction in their original language … then they are no longer Jewish schools.” “The Office of Civil Rights should exercise its oversight over these New York agencies that receive billions of dollars in federal funds annually by thoroughly investigating their discriminatory practices and remediating their discriminatory conduct.” The civil rights complaint, filed a week before President-elect Trump is set to take office, takes aim at a process in state education regulations adopted in 2022, which may put religious and other private schools through a review of basic subjects, such as reading and math, to ensure they are at least “substantially equivalent” to those offered at public schools. The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights could not confirm receipt of the complaint late Monday. A rep for the New York State Education Department said it could not comment in the suit itself but pushed back against its core claims. “We disagree with the allegations, which constitute a challenge to State law,” said J.P. O’Hare, a spokesman. “We note that counsel for these complainants has previously unsuccessfully challenged the Board of Regents’ substantial equivalency regulations in court.” Schick said the yeshivas are not challenging the state regulations themselves, but the alleged use of the reviews to “impose its secular views on these Jewish schools.” Private schools that are approved by an independent accreditor or have their students pass state-approved standardized tests are exempt from the review process. Trump campaigned on “parental rights” to make decisions about their children’s education and a crackdown on allegations of antisemitism in schools. In a statement released after the filing, Jewish advocates for yeshiva reform accused the four schools taking their action to a forum more likely to provide a favorable judgment, while a lawsuit is pending in New York’s highest court. The group, Young Advocates for Fair Education, has long accused some yeshivas of failing to prepare its graduates to fully participate in life outside of the Hasidic community if they so choose. “Today’s federal civil rights complaint filed against the New York State and City Education Departments is nothing more than a desperate and cynical attempt at court shopping,” said Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education. “The grievances outlined in this complaint have already been dismissed repeatedly in state court, and this latest maneuver reeks of bad faith.” “Let’s be clear: this is not about protecting civil rights — it’s about shielding institutions from accountability while tens of thousands of children are denied a basic education,” she continued. “Teaching English, math, science, and social studies does not contradict Jewish values; it complements them.”