Daniela Souza Egorov criticizes elimination of Regents exams as lowering accountability

Good afternoon.

My name is Daniela Souza-Igorov, and I'm a New York City public school parent and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Since the 1800s, the New York Regents exam has indicated academic excellence and rigor.

Generations of New York students have studied hard to accomplish this milestone.

It is deeply concerning that the New York Board of Regents will eliminate those exams, and board member Felicia Thomas-Williams said that, quote, you don't assess a fish on climbing a tree because fish can't climb trees.

Quote, why do the people responsible for setting education policy in our state have no confidence in our kids'ability to learn?

This is just the last act of the Board of Regents to eliminate any accountability in our state after lowering the standards of the state test a few years ago to hide the drop in performance after the extensive closures of schools during the pandemic.

New York State now spends nearly $40 billion per year on education, which makes it the most expensive public school system in the country for 19 consecutive years.

Unless the portrait of a graduate sets rigorous and objective measures like the regions, it will

be another ill-advised decision, which will only try to mask the reality that the majority of our students are not learning basic skills in math and reading at the end of high school.

It will lower the value of New York State high school diploma, and it won't solve the actual problem that the New York Board of Regents and this body should be focused on.

Making sure our kids, making sure our public schools actually teach our kids or offer school choice for those who are not lucky enough to get a seat in a public charter school or cannot afford to pay for private school or homeschool their kids.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Oh, 13 seconds to spare.

All right.