August 6, 2010 - The New York State Education Department said this week it will not eliminate administration Regents exams in January, 2011, but will continue with its plan to do away with assessments in other subject areas this school year due to state budget cuts.

Deficit reduction measures by the Regents during the 2010-11 school year now will officially include:

Elimination of Grades 5 and 8 Social Studies Exams
Elimination of Grade 8 Second Language Proficiency Exams
Elimination of August Administration of Algebra 2/Trigonometry and Chemistry Exams
Elimination of high school Foreign Language Regents exams except for Spanish, French and Italian
Elimination of Component Retesting in Math & English Language Arts
Discontinuation of paper-based scoring materials for Regents Exams.

All scoring materials and answer keys will be posted to the Department’s website and schools will be responsible for downloading prior to scoring

"While this is good news, it is important to keep in mind that this applies to the 2011 administration of Regents Exams only," said John B. King, Jr., NYS Senior Deputy Commissioner for P-12 Education. "That is, unless alternative funding sources can be identified in the very near future, the Regents will need to consider further deficit reduction actions in the fall."

Prior to the passage of the NYS budget in August, which came more than four months late, the Board of Regents discussed at its June meeting cost cutting measures to make up a projected deficit of approximately $11.5 million in available funding for 2010-11 for P-12 programs, including the assessment program. At that time, the Regents noted that in 2011-12 the deficit would likely increase to approximately $21 million. As a result, the NYS Education Department proposed a series of cuts including the elimination of the administration of January 2011 Regents exams. But following passage of the budget, State Ed received notice that its request for additional funding from the legislature and executive had been partially approved, saving the January Regents exams as well as administration of the June 2011 Italian Regents.