The state Education Department says more students are proficient in English language arts and math.

Overall, the 2024-25 state assessment data show that proficiency rates of students in third through eighth grades to be 53% in ELA and 55% in math. The proficiency rate of students in fifth and eighth grades on the statewide science test is 44%. It’s better than it was – but nowhere near good enough.

At least state officials have stopped trumpeting small gains in proficiency each year. There was a time when even tepid gains in achievement were trumpeted by state Education Department officials each year, as if we wouldn’t all realize that increasing proficiency by a percentage point or two still meant that huge percentages of state students weren’t on track to be ready for college or the workforce when they graduate.

That remains the case this year. More students have been deemed proficient by their performance on state standardized tests, but 47% of third- through eighth-graders still aren’t proficient in English while 45% are still below state grade-level learning standards on math. And, science testing for fifth- and eighth-graders shows that for all the state’s investment and promotion of STEM courses, 56% of students starting and ending their middle school days are struggling to reach proficiency in science.

That’s already disappointing. It’s downright infuriating when you realize we’re spending the most money in the country for miniscule gains in proficiency each year. Budgets proposed to school district voters in May showed average spending statewide of $35,012 per student, a 4.6% increase for the 2025-26 school year from the 2024-25 school year, according to the Empire Center for New York State Policy. We’re spending a lot more money to educate students in districts whose population is largely stagnant, and to add insult to injury, more than 40% of students aren’t proficient in core subjects. We’re paying sports car prices for go-kart performance.