Hochul wants more control of state education as New York phases out Regents exams for graduation

Gov. Kathy Hochul is putting the Board of Regents’ plan to drop exit exams at the center of a renewed fight over who runs education policy in New York.

In a Chalkbeat New York report — also carried by THE CITY — Hochul said after her Tuesday win over Republican Bruce Blakeman that she worries state education officials are eliminating Regents exams as a graduation requirement “without a clear plan for what will replace them,” risking the value of a New York diploma. “People see in the articles, ‘New York State abandons Regents,’” she said on the Max Politics Podcast. “They think I’m New York.” She added that “the buck should stop with me, given that we are the funder of education.”

Spokesperson Jonah Allon told Chalkbeat the governor is concerned about “the lack of clarity about what will replace” the exams and that the Board of Regents must “preserve academic rigor and ensure clear, consistent graduation standards across the state.” A State Education Department spokesperson did not respond to Chalkbeat’s questions.

What is changing

Under the current timeline, the class of 2027 is the last group of students required to pass Regents exams to graduate, Chalkbeat reported. This year’s seniors still generally need Regents exams in English, math, science and social studies. New York City officials told Chalkbeat that for the next three years, students will only have to pass their classes to earn a diploma while the department develops new requirements.

A September 11, 2026, Board of Regents agenda item from the State Education Department — BR (A) 4 Revised — asked the board to direct staff to sunset separate diploma assessment requirements and move to one New York State diploma beginning in the 2027–28 school year. The paper says students graduating in January 2028 or after would earn one diploma and would not face the separate 4+1 Regents examination requirement, while Regents exams would remain as measures of learning standards. The department argues the exams were not designed to measure graduation readiness.

Who controls education policy

Those concerns are feeding Hochul’s longer push to give the governor’s office more control of the Education Department, which answers to the 17-member Board of Regents chosen by lawmakers, not the governor. She previously clashed with Commissioner Betty Rosa over a school cellphone ban before signing a statewide ban into law, Chalkbeat noted.

State Sen. John Liu told Politico, as quoted by Chalkbeat, that wanting a hands-on approach is fine but that the department’s structure is set by law and the state constitution. EdTrust-New York executive director Arlen Benjamin-Gomez called Hochul’s sharper focus a “big deal” and said her group wants a two-year pause so schools can prepare. Hochul’s office did not tell Chalkbeat whether she wants Regents exams kept or replaced with another model.