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New York State’s education system is in steep decline.
Enrollment is down, but spending is up, and academic results are either stagnant or declining. It’s time to reform our system of governance by axing the Board of Regents and giving the governor direct control of the State Department of Education.
The Board of Regents sets most schooling policies and selects the State Education Commissioner. The Board sets graduation requirements for all high schools in the state, approves changes to the state testing program, and provides general supervision for all educational activities in the state. It is the Board of Regents that consistently shuts down meaningful improvements to school choice.
New York’s governor has no say over the board members. New York is almost alone in this position — according to the Education Commission of the States, only eight other states have no role for their governor in selecting these roles.
New York’s governor has no say in the appointment of the Board of Regents. Its members are appointed by the legislature, with most of the influence coming from the Assembly.
The Assembly has been controlled by Dems since 1975. Public information suggests that al but a few current regents have backgrounds associated with the Democratic Party. This is no surprise: the legislature is beholden to state and city teachers’ unions who oppose any form of school choice as well as policies that enforce accountability for poor public school performance.
Currently, even if a reform-minded governor of either party were to be elected, the board’s structural one-party rule over education would railroad any attempts at meaningful progress.
Occasionally, sober-minded leaders are able to work around this.
For example, charter schools consistently outperform district-run schools for black, Hispanic, and lower-income students, but the State DoE has stopped publicizing the achievement gaps between charter and district schools in their annual reports and the Regents seek to block work-arounds to the state’s ill-advised cap on the growth of charter schools in New York City.
Both the regents and the legislature’s leaders have urged Gov. Hochul to disallow the use of scholarships funded by federal tax credits to be used in New York. But, because the tax credit was federally issued, the board had no legal say in the matter.
This will be a massive benefit to New York’s families — but it comes despite the board, not thanks to it. Instead, its wasting its time reducing New York class sizes at great expense in a way that serves the system’s employees and contractors, not students or taxpayers.
All this speaks to the fact that the Board of Regents in its current form must be scrapped. Our State Constitution requires the existence of the board, but it also notes that its powers and the manner of its members’ appointments are subject to review and revision. Ideally, the board would have its role in appointing the state education commissioner revoked. Only then can New York families regain control over their children’s future.
Ray Domanico is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.