In the absence of any coherent strategy by the State Education Department to meaningfully improve K-12 education, it is hard to see this as anything other than a means to paper over that absence.
nytimes.com
New York Moves Away from Regents Exams for High School Seniors
A state board authorized phasing out the tests, long viewed as a rite of passage for high school seniors, as a diploma requirement. What replaces them is an open question.