ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo excoriated the state Board of Regents Monday after it proposed watering down Common Core standards to accommodate ineffective teachers and principals.
A Regents panel voted to allow teachers and principals who could be fired based on poor student performance on Common Core exams this year or last year to defend themselves by citing the botched rollout of the tough new curriculum.
The full Regents board is expected to pass the proposal Tuesday.
“There is a difference between remedying the system for students and parents and using this situation as yet another excuse to stop the teacher- evaluation process,” Cuomo fumed in a harsh statement.
His comments came less than an hour after Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch called Cuomo “an enormous ally” in improving teacher evaluations.
She declined to comment after his rebuke.
Cuomo has named his own panel to look at improvements to the Common Core, slated to report its findings in June.
But the Regents have the power to institute revisions on their own.
The Regents committee also signed off on a five-year delay in tying high- school graduation requirements to Common Core standards after facing intense pressure from parents, educators and lawmakers.
The committee further approved a one-year delay in providing students’ data to an outside firm to address security concerns.
Senate Education Committee Chairman John Flanagan welcomed many of the Regents’ recommendations, setting the stage for a confrontation with the governor.
“I believe this plan has more action in it than I expected,” Flanagan said. “I was surprised by it.”
And Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Regents have “done by regulation what they can do.”
But UFT President Michael Mulgrew criticized the Regents for not offering enough programs to help school districts deal with the demands of the Common Core.
Education-reform advocates praised the governor’s stance.
“We must not allow criticism manufactured by special interests to turn back the clock on teacher evaluations and higher standards,” StudentsFirstNY executive director Jenny Sedlis said.
State Education Commissioner John King vowed to stay “absolutely committed” to the Common Core, despite calls for delays and other criticisms.
“The tension here is to balance the urgency of student preparation,” he said. “We want to make sure the transition to Common Core does not negatively impact graduation rates.”