Cash woes seen impeding school reforms

On Long Island, as elsewhere, a drive to help all students become "college- and career-ready" is bumping up against economic reality.

Long Island educators warn that dwindling state school-aid dollars could thwart Albany's hopes of raising high-school graduation requirements and making them more flexible, so that graduates are well-prepared for college or jobs.

Specifically, school representatives question where they will find the extra money needed to help students achieve higher passing scores on college-prep Regents exams, or to complete high-quality occupational training. Both ideas are under consideration in Albany.

The concept of having students college- and career-ready has been an official national goal since June, when it was formally adopted by the National Governors Association. New York was among states active in setting that goal.

However, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who was elected in November with a pledge to end deficit spending, has proposed cutting school aid statewide next year by $1.5 billion. Cuomo said schools could largely make up the difference by dipping into cash reserves - a contention that districts reject.

The cuts are part of a broader effort by Cuomo to narrow the state's budget deficit, estimated as high as $10 billion.

"We're in an economic tsunami," said David Bennardo, principal of Harborfields High School in Greenlawn. He spoke last week at one of the state's regional hearings on graduation requirements, held in Dix Hills.

Bennardo said anticipated cuts in state aid next year could force his school to cut the number of daily class periods to eight from nine. That, in turn, would reduce time available for remedial tutoring.

However advocates of changing diploma requirements say the issue is too important to postpone action. Those advocates, who include Education Commissioner David Steiner, point to the more than 40 percent of community-college students statewide who wind up taking remedial courses.

"This is not the time to say: Raising academic standards, well, let's wait until the economic climate improves," said Steiner.

Steiner and the state Board of Regents are mulling more than a half-dozen ideas for changing graduation requirements. Initial action could be taken within six months, though the commissioner indicated last week that phasing in new requirements, once approved, could require as long as a decade.

One idea under consideration would raise passing scores on Regents exams from the current 65, to 75 in English and 80 in math. Another proposal would allow students to substitute at least one of five required Regents exams for certification in a set of occupational courses.

The latter approach would reverse a state goal, set in 1995, of having all students graduate after passing five academically oriented Regents exams.