"The Board of Regents and the New York State Education Department have come to understand that the results we seek for all our children can never be fully achieved unless we re-focus every facet of our work through an equity and inclusion lens (see also New York State’s Every Student Succeeds Act Plan). This understanding has created an urgency around promoting equitable opportunities that help all children thrive. New York State understands that the responsibility of education is not only to prevent the exclusion of historically silenced, erased, and disenfranchised groups, but also to assist in the promotion and perpetuation of cultures, languages and ways of knowing that have been devalued, suppressed, and imperiled by years of educational, social, political, economic neglect and other forms of oppression."
-The NYS Board of Regents Framework on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in New York’s Schools: A Call to Action, April 2021
"The New York State Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) and the New York State Board of Regents (“Board” or “SED”) write to inform Local Education Agencies (“LEAs”) of their obligation to place dignity, inclusion, and respect at the center of their educational decisions. These principles, embedded in law, are the wellspring from which sound decisions of educational policy flow. Through this joint guidance, the OAG and SED reaffirm New York’s commitment to ensuring that all students have full educational opportunity by supporting LEAs’ development and implementation of policies and practices that advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”)."
-The NYS Education Department, Dr. Betty A. Rosa, Commissioner of Education, August 2023