Make New York Post a Preferred Source The state’s education chief is pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany pols to cough up an expected massive funding increase for school districts to comply with her controversial move to KO the Regents.
The tin-cup pitch from Commish Betty Rosa could trigger a battle with Hochul, who has been critical of phasing out the state’s Regents exams, which New York high school students have been required to pass to graduate.
“When we have an initiative like this, we can’t be starved,” Rosa said during a Board of Regents meeting this week, referring to her push to replace the exams with alternative graduation requirements — and the need to train teachers to achieve her demand.
New York’s Education Department commissioner is asking Gov. Kathy Hochul to increase state funding. Matt Roberts/Shutterstock “This state has to make a huge investment if we’re going to modernize and transform education,” she said without specifying how much money she would request from Hochul and the state legislature.
The Regents exams, which students have needed to pass in math, English, science and Global Studies to obtain a diploma, became a graduation requirement during former Gov. George Pataki’s tenure and under then-state Education Commissioner Richard Mills.
The Board of Regents, with Rosa’s backing, voted in September to make the exams optional — meaning kids wouldn’t have to take them if they didn’t want to — as the panel worked to develop alternative graduation requirements that could include student projects or portfolios.
But the federal government recently stepped in and is requiring the kids to at least still take the exams, regardless of what New York does with the results, according to the Albany Times Union.
The state Board of Regents voted in September to make the Regents exams optional. oscar williams – stock.adobe.com Beginning in 2028, New York high school students will no longer be required to pass the exams to finish high school.
The state’s graduation policy is set by the 17-member New York Board of Regents, whose members are appointed by Democrats who control the legislature.
The governor does not have a direct role in appointing the Regents, but Hochul has enormous power over school funding and has passed laws she wanted that impact education, such as banning cellphones during the school day.
“The Governor’s priority remains ensuring all New York students receive a high-quality, rigorous education,” a Hochul rep said in an emailed response to Rosa’s comments. “Details of the Executive Budget will be released in January.”
The Times Union first reported that Rosa would seek additional state funding to help establish new graduation standards and train educators to implement them.
Teachers across the state will need experts to instruct them on how to grade portfolios and other projects students must pass for graduation, a more challenging task than easy-to-grade Regents exams.
Rosa said every school may need a coach to help master the new graduation standards.
“We can’t keep using the excuse, ‘They’re not ready,’” Rosa said of districts.
Last year, the Regents board requested a $1.1 billion increase in school funding for various projects.
Hochul said she should have more say over education policy, including graduation requirements. But the education department is not under her purview.
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“People see in the articles, ‘New York state abandons Regents,’” Hochul said recently on the Max Politics Podcast. “They think I’m New York.
“The buck should stop with me, given that we are the funder of education.”
Hochul’s fellow Democrats control the Assembly and Senate, and she would have to wage a potentially nasty fight with them to stop or reverse the Regents board’s decision to scrap state exams as a graduation requirement, sources said.
Pataki, governor from 1995 to 2006, told The Post in September that “getting rid of the Regents is incredibly stupid.
“It seems like the Education Department’s main function right now is to disguise the fact that too many New York state schools are failing to educate our kids,” the former gov said.
