NY education boss demands state fork over massive funding increase to replace Regents: We cant be starved

The state’s education chief is pushing Gov.Kathy Hochul and Albany pols to cough up an expected massive funding increase for school districts to comply with her controversial move to KO the Regents.The tin-cup pitch from Commish Betty Rosa could trigger a battle with Hochul, who has been critical of phasing out the state’s Regents exams, which New York high school students have been required to pass to graduate.“When we have an initiative like this, we can’t be starved,” Rosa said during a Board of Regents meeting this week, referring to her push to replace the exams with alternative graduation requirements — and the need to train teachers to achieve her demand.“This state has to make a huge investment if we’re going to modernize and transform education,” she said without specifying how much money she would request from Hochul and the state legislature.Her department declined to comment to The Post.The Regents exams, which students have needed to pass in math, English, science and Global Studies to obtain a diploma, became a graduation requirement during former Gov.

George Pataki’s tenure and under then-state Education Commissioner Richard Mills.The Board of Regents, with Rosa’s backing, voted in September to make the exams optional — meaning kids wouldn’t have to take them if they didn’t want to — as the panel worked to develop alternative graduation requirements that could include student projects or portfolios.But the federal government recently stepped in and is requiring the kids to at least still take the exams, regardless of what New York does with the results, according to the Albany Times Union.Beginning in 2028, New York high school students will no longer be required to pass the exams to finish high school.The state’s graduation policy is set by the 17-member New York Board of Regents, whose members are appointed by Democrats who control the legislature.The governor does not have a direct role in appointing the Regents, bu...