Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Dem cronies are dunces for allowing the dumbing down of the state’s high-school-diploma requirements by ditching the Regents exams, says the ex-gov who helped put the tests in place.
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who → allow → place
“Getting rid of the Regents is incredibly stupid,” said George Pataki, the Republican three-term New York governor from 1995 through 2006, to The Post.
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Pataki → rid → Post
“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,” Pataki said.
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Pataki → seem → kids
“So instead of doing the appropriate testing so that corrective measures could be taken to improve [performance], they simply get rid of the tests to hide their failure.”
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they → do → failure
Pataki was slamming the state’s education policy-making board and Education Department for phasing out the exams by 2028 that are currently required to earn a high school diploma.
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that → slam → diploma
The Regents exams that students have needed to pass in math, English, science and Global Studies to obtain a diploma became a graduation requirement during Pataki’s tenure and under then-state Education Commissioner Richard Mills.
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students → need → Mills
The Board of Regents earlier this month voted to make them optional as they work to develop alternative graduation requirements.
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they → vote → requirements
Pataki also referenced the Brooklyn elementary school that controversial woke New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones highlighted in a recent piece she wrote.
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she → reference → piece
Hannah-Jones admitted in the report that she knowingly “sacrificed” her daughter by sending her to the badly failing school, where her child did not thrive, to make a point to try to get other black parents to keep their kids at the neighborhood school.
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parents → admit → school
“This is a disgrace,” Pataki said.
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Pataki → say → ?
“The next time Democrats talk about income inequality, ask them how their subservience to the teachers union is helping low income minority kids get a step up in life,” he said.
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he → talk → life
Current 12th graders will be the last graduating class required to pass at least four Regents exams in math, English, science and Global Studies.
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graders → require → math
Students on track to graduate in 2028 will no longer be required to pass the exams to finish high school, but they can still take them.
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they → graduate → them
The graduation policy is set by the 17-member New York Board of Regents, whose members are appointed by Democrats who control the legislature.
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who → set → legislature
The governor does not have a direct role in appointing the Regents.
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governor → have → Regents
But the Democratic Hochul has enormous power over school funding and has passed laws impacting education.
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Hochul → have → education
Now the debate over scrapping the Regents exams is becoming a hot potato in the race for governor.
“We pay the highest taxes in the nation under Kathy Hochul, yet too many of our children are still not getting the results they deserve,” Blakeman said in a statement.
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Blakeman → scrap → statement
“Taxpayers and students deserve higher standards, stronger schools and real accountability for the enormous amount of money New York spends on education.
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York → deserve → education
The Board of Regents and Education Commissioner Betty Rosa have debated replacing the state exams for years after appointing a blue-ribbon panel in 2019 to exam alternative graduation requirements.
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Board → debate → requirements
Hochul addressed the explosive issue for the first time only last week, expressing concerns about the switch as she’s about to face voters again.
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she → address → voters
“Governor Hochul shares the concerns many New Yorkers have raised about the decision to eliminate the current standards for earning a high school diploma and the lack of clarity about what will replace them,” a Hochul rep said Sunday.
“
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rep → share → them
While this decision rests with the independent State Education Department, she believes strongly that a New York diploma must remain a meaningful credential that students, families, colleges and employers can trust.
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students → rest → that
The Board of Regents have a responsibility to preserve academic rigor and ensure clear, consistent graduation standards across the state.”
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Board → have → state
Rosa and the Regents did not take kindly to Pataki’s blunt criticism.
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Rosa → take → criticism
“We understand former Governor George Pataki has not been engaged in the education landscape since 1998 when he signed the law creating charter schools,” the state DOE said.
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DOE → understand → schools
“While he’s entitled to his political opinion, it is not reflective of the current climate and support educators statewide are providing the Department through ongoing stakeholder engagement.”
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educators → ’ → engagement
“We are committed to ensuring every New York student, not simply students fortunate enough to attend a particular school, has access to rigorous teaching and meaningful ways to demonstrate what they know and can do.”
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they → commit → what
New state graduation requirements would likely include portfolios, which focus on long-term projects and problem-solving.
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which → include → projects
SED said that as part of its new efforts, it will require students to “recognize misinformation, distinguish fact from opinion, evaluate sources, and identify claims that are presented without important context.”
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that → say → context
“We are far more interested in equity, academic rigor, and preparing New York’s students for the future than in preserving the education politics of the 1990s,” the SED said.
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SED → prepare → 1990s
“It’s also worth noting that when Pataki graduated from high school, New York students could graduate without satisfying a Regents exam requirement, and yet somehow, that era still produced a public high school graduate from Peekskill who went to Yale and later became Governor of New York,” the SED said.
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SED → note → York
The Education Department is now tasked with outlining what will replace the Regents exams.
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what → task → exams
One education expert wondered why the board scrapped the Regents exams without having an alternative accountability system in place, likening it to putting the cart before the horse.
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board → wonder → horse
“You can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” said Stan Litow, a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees, former New York City deputy schools chancellor and architect in designing Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools or P-TECH schools.
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Litow → let → Technology
“Removing an accountability system without a replacement in place is a flawed way of proceeding,” he said.
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he → remove → place
Even backers of rigorous standards said the tests in recent decades were a bust, dumbed down to maintain or bolster graduation rates and subjected to grade-fixing scandals.
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tests → say → scandals
The Aporia
