Please take action NOW on the state budget & cancelling Regents exams!
Dear Friends,
1 -Sadly, it looks like the state budget that was just voted on by the NY Senate will freeze education funding for next year, which given increased costs will be experienced in many schools and districts like a cut. Please call your Assemblymembers now and ask them to vote no on the education budget, and to raise revenue instead by boosting taxes on ultra-millionaires. You can find their phone numbers by filling your address in here. But do this ASAP as they’re due to vote today.
2- Please also send a letter to the State Education Commissioner and the Board of Regents, demanding that they cancel the Regents exams immediately. It is simply unfair to require students to pass a series of high-stakes exams to graduate from high school given that their education has been hugely disrupted by the school shutdowns and the coronavirus pandemic. You can send them a letter by clicking here.
3- I interviewed Randi Weingarten yesterday on my WBAI radio show “Talk out of School” where we discussed the Governor’s order that schools cancel spring break, on the need to eliminate the Regents exams this year, about the threat to schools of looming budget cuts and to privacy by the rapid adoption of ed tech programs, and about Randi’s proposal that students should be assigned a capstone project of their own choosing this year instead of trying to complete the standard curriculum. You can listen to our conversation here.
Hope you’re all staying healthy and safe, Leonie
Please take action NOW on the state budget & cancelling Regents exams! | Class Size Matters