“This morning’s nomination of Betty Rosa as Chancellor of the state Board of Regents has left me optimistic that our state’s education department is headed in the right direction. Fresh leadership is exactly what we need to generate a new direction for our schools and children.

“Betty Rosa’s reputation as a strong, determined leader speaks for itself. Rosa's advocacy on behalf of special needs students and English language learners has been second to none and she has been a strong voice against a one-size-fits-all, test-centric system. Her nomination is a great testament to the activism of teachers and parents throughout New York State who have pushed for meaningful change to a system that has been too often focused on high-stakes testing rather than true classroom learning.

“Additionally, I hope the Legislature will move forward with empowering the Board to make needed changes by repealing the restrictive and punitive teacher evaluation law and in turn allow them to create a new model as envisioned by the legislation I introduced earlier this year. I wish Chancellor Rosa and our new Vice-Chancellor Andrew Brown the very best as we move forward and look forward to working with them to finally get things right for New York's children.”