Albany, New York – Assemblyman David Weprin issued the following statement regarding the admissions process for New York City’s Specialized High Schools:

"After scrutinizing the text of the amended legislation to change the admissions process for New York City’s Specialized High Schools, I have decided that I will not be supporting this legislation if it comes to the floor for a vote and will be removing my co-sponsorship of this well-intentioned but ultimately misguided bill. While I support efforts to increase the diversity of our city’s schools by allowing the admissions process to look at multiple measures of student merit including the SHSAT as the original bill did, the amended bill instead replaces a merit based system with a lottery and quota based admissions process; and was changed without consulting the bill’s co-sponsors or multi-sponsors. As I have stated previously, I would strongly prefer changes that allow for the admissions process to look at different measures of student merit, including a merit based exam and a student’s GPA, as well as proposals that provide students in underrepresented communities expanded access to free test prep and other supports.”