Shortchanged
By Carol Boyd
In July of 1864, the New York State Legislature enacted an ordinance that created the Regents Examination system. The very first exam was given in November of 1869. It was the Legislature’s intent that the exams would not only assess student achievement, but also provide more funding to the schools with higher pass rates.
Fast forward 142 years and not much has changed, except that in an effort to be penny wise it appears that the New York State Board of Regents’ decision to eliminate administering Regents Exams in January may result in being pound foolish. It is anticipated that not offering winter exams will save $1.4 million. The State also expects to save an additional $700,000 by eliminating all foreign language Regents exams to recapture a total savings of $2.1 million dollars.
In 2007-08 (the most recent year for which data is available) NY State per pupil expenditure was $17,173. In 2010, there were 360 students in NYC that graduated mid-year after taking January exams. Using 2007 cost data, were these students to remain in school for an additional semester to take June exams, the cost for NYC