Congressman Ritchie Torres to Panel for Education Policy: Stop Politicizing the SHSAT

On Wednesday, Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) wrote to the Panel for Education Policy (PEP) regarding the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT). A video of Rep. Torres discussing the situation can be viewed here.

The letter sent reads as follows (full PDF available here):

“I am writing to call upon the Panel for Education Policy (PEP) to immediately approve the contract with Pearson to computerize the SHSAT. PEP has been delaying the administration of a computerized SHSAT in an apparent attempt to sabotage the test itself. Computerization is a natural development in a digitized world. There should be nothing controversial about computerization, and there is no good reason for delaying the contract.

“The 1972 Hecht-Calandra Act requires a standardized exam as the sole standard of admission into specialized schools. PEP must therefore treat the implementation of the SHSAT not as a policy choice but as a statutory obligation.

“By delaying the contract indefinitely and even defiantly, knowing the disruption it could cause to the administration of the SHSAT, PEP is subverting state law. Its delay tactics could have the intended effect of undermining the SHSAT.

“Government ought to listen to the people on the ground, rather than pander to interest groups that browbeat politicians and policymakers into submission. I have spoken to countless New Yorkers—especially in the Asian community—who see an attack on the SHSAT as an attack on their path to the American Dream. For many hailing from humble origins, the SHSAT provides a proven pathway from poverty to prosperity. Instead of paving the road to the American Dream, PEP is setting up roadblocks that could create a nightmare for New Yorkers who see their own futures tied to the survival of specialized schools.

“The longstanding ideological crusade against specialized schools has proven to be deeply divisive. It proposes no solution that will systemically improve educational outcomes for Black and Brown communities. It simply alienates and antagonizes the Asian community, deepening the crisis of confidence in both the City and the State. We have the worst of both worlds: dividing the people of New York without solving their problems. Division without solution has been the modus operandi of our failed politics in New York for far too long. The time has come to choose problem-solving over polarization.

“I have a simple message for PEP: stop politicizing the SHSAT, stop polarizing the People of New York, and start focusing on fundamentally improving the system as a whole. PEP oversees more than 1500 schools; the outsized obsession with eight of them misses the forest for the trees and divides people rather than solves problems.”