Our children are failed by an education system that doesn’t care — and teacher unions are to blame

As of 2019, state test scores would no longer play a role in teacher evaluations. The state’s education department promised these changes would bring “reflection and goal-setting,” “collaboration among educators” and “personalized professional learning opportunities.” This follows a pattern of incompetence by the New York State Department of Education in supporting improvement in instruction, and the outsourcing of most of that work to the New York State United Teachers. In 2025, 85% of high school students in New York “graduated.” And now, the Board of Regents has gone even further, moving to phase out the state regents as graduation requirements starting in 2027-28.