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State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa has asked Albany for a big pile of cash to roll out “NY Inspires,” the plan to replace Regents exam graduation gates with portfolios and performance measures. Governor Kathy Hochul has already raised alarms and is pushing for more control. This is now a budget fight that should be about one thing: protecting real standards for New York schools.
Rosa’s “huge” funding plea
What she wants and what it would buy
Commissioner Betty Rosa told state leaders the shift to NY Inspires will cost a lot and that the Education Department needs substantial new funding to help districts build rubrics, run performance assessments, train staff, and manage portfolios. She argues these changes will give students more ways to show what they know. Fine — but asking for a blank check to trade uniform Regents exams for local projects and portfolios is risky. New programs need clear cost estimates, pilots, and timelines, not rhetoric and a big state tab.
Hochul pushes back
A needed check on the Regents’ leap
Governor Kathy Hochul has publicly questioned eliminating Regents-exam graduation gates without a clear replacement. She has also said she wants more executive oversight of education policy. That is a smart move. The governor controls the budget and can insist on guardrails. If Rosa and the Board of Regents want taxpayer money, they should prove the plan will keep standards high, not just promise equity-sounding buzzwords and hand out contracts to consultants.
Why this matters for New York schools
Standards, spending, and local capacity
New York spends among the most per pupil in the country. That makes the ask for extra billions harder to swallow. Regents exams have been the state’s consistent measuring stick for decades. Moving to projects and portfolios risks uneven standards across districts and opens the door to grade inflation and gamesmanship. Many districts lack the staff and tech to run robust performance assessments. Without tight statewide controls, this change could hurt students more than help them.
What Hochul should do next
Hold the purse strings and demand proof
Governor Hochul should use the budget as leverage. She should refuse open-ended funding and insist on a phased rollout with pilots, clear metrics, and independent evaluations before state dollars flow. Require cost breakdowns, statewide rubrics, and safeguards so portfolios can’t be rubber-stamped. If the Regents want to experiment, let them pilot in a few districts — not rewrite graduation rules while asking taxpayers to pay for the experiment.
Albany should not let consultants and education bureaucrats turn graduation into a portfolio parade funded by taxpayers. If Rosa truly cares about students, she’ll welcome guardrails and pilots. If she doesn’t, Governor Hochul should say no to the money and yes to protecting standards. That would be the responsible move for New York schools and families who expect diplomas to mean something.
