Daniel T. Connor
Superintendent

227 Main Street
Goshen, NY 10924
(845) 615-6720

District news

January Regents Exams back on school calendars

August 4, 2011 - New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott today announced that they have secured $1.5 million in private funding that will allow students across the state to take the New York State Education Department Regents Exams in January 2012.

The New York State Education Department confirmed that the January Regents Exams would be restored and administered from Tuesday, January 24 through Friday, January 27, 2012.

NYSED Assistant Commissioner David Abrams expressed gratitude for the privately-donated financial support that will "provide many students the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities in a variety of subjects and allow many to graduate from high school."

Previously, NYSED said that it would not offer the January exams for high school students beginning in 2012, after the Board of Regents voted to eliminate them due to budget cuts.

“Thousands of high-school students rely on the January Regents Exams to graduate on time and move on to college and careers,” said Chancellor Walcott in a press release issued by the mayor’s office. “These generous donations give these students the opportunity for an uninterrupted transition to a successful future. We will continue to work with the state legislature and the State Education Department to find a long-term solution so that our students, especially the most vulnerable, have the best chance to succeed.”

According to the mayor's office release, nearly 2,400 of the 3,454 students who graduated in New York City between January and March of 2011 relied on the January exams to earn their diplomas. A large proportion of these students represented the city’s ethnic minorities as well as its most vulnerable populations, including students who have returned to school after dropping out, students with disabilities, English language learners and overage and under-credited students.

After fundraising efforts by Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Walcott, six New Yorkers each made donations of $250,000, for a total of $1.5 million, which was accepted by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the Fund for Public Schools.

In the statement from NYSED, Abrams mentioned efforts to secure continued funding to stabilize the important schedule of high school exams.

"The continuing structural imbalance in funding for the past several years led to the difficult decision to discontinue this testing period," Abrams said. "The State Education Department is currently identifying nearly $4 million in cost containment measures to ensure the program remains in balance for the remainder of this year. A longer term solution for adequate funding remains a department priority.

View the Times Herald-Record article by Meghan E. Murphy