In 1996, the New York State Education Department set in motion the phase out of the local diploma in an effort to have all students fulfill the requirements for the more rigorous Regents diploma. After 15 years of gradually phasing out the local diploma, there is no plan for the students who will now fail to graduate because the local diploma will no longer be available to them. This will have dire consequences for many youth, their communities and the State.

The first class of high school students who did not have the option of getting a local diploma, unless they received special education services, is set to graduate in June 2012. Without the local diploma in New York State, we estimate that as many as 14,000 general education students from the 2006 high school cohort and in each subsequent cohort are not likely to graduate from high school within four years. An additional 7,000 students with disabilities are not likely to graduate within four years in 2015 when one of two local diploma pathways is eliminated for these students. The impact statement presents the full potential impact of these changes both now and in June 2015.

The Diploma Coalition supports efforts to better prepare our students for life after school. Until New York develops multiple pathways to a diploma, however, we cannot eliminate current options that provide real opportunities for our young people.

The Coalition later issued a Call to Action and initiated an online petition asking New Yorkers to voice their concerns about eliminating the local diploma for general education students before new pathways to a diploma exist.