Regents head: Exam funding needed soon

January Regents exams statewide will remain canceled if funding to underwrite the tests is not provided by mid-August, the head of the state Board of Regents said Wednesday.

Chancellor Merryl Tisch said the board "tried vigorously" to get the State Legislature's attention on the matter starting 14 months ago, around the time the Regents started trimming tests from its schedule.

"If we don't have a solution by the middle of August, we don't have a test," she said of the January exams, which cost $1.4 million. "So the clock is ticking."

The January administration of Regents tests gives a second chance to high school students who didn't score a passing 65 in last month's end-of-year exams. Students must pass the tests in core subjects to receive a Regents diploma, and must pass the algebra 2/trigonometry exam to attain a Regents diploma with Advanced Designation.

"Through the end of the legislative season, we did everything we could, but people were very preoccupied with many issues," Tisch said. "And now that the reality of this is sinking in, people are understanding the real consequences of having a state testing system that is depleted of money."

Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), who chairs the Senate Education Committee and supports restoring the exams, said he has been speaking with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office.

"The best I can tell you is that there are ongoing discussions," he said. "And I'm hopeful we can come to some equitable resolution."

The governor's office did not return repeated calls Wednesday and Tuesday.

Assemb. Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst), a member of that chamber's Education Committee, said he's not sure the Board of Regents' cuts were necessary.

"I would like to see the exams restored, but I also understand that periodically, in the past, the Regents had expressed their dissatisfaction with their funding by taking actions like this, and that is not something I particularly want to encourage," he said.

Tisch rejected that. "I find that very cynical," she said. "It's not only cynical, but it is unethical, not anything any member of this board would be associated with."

Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor), another Education Committee member, said, "In the context of the state budget, the cost of administering the Regents is not that much."