Private donors pay for regents exams in New York may be first in nation to foot testing bill for public schools

Students have to pass  regents exams in five subjects to graduate yet the state cancelled the January exams because the State Legislature failed to provide $1.4 million needed for the tests, an earlier" $8 million short fall in the testing budget." Instead now the tests are only given in June and August, denying students an opportunity to graduate early,  make up failed tests or get a heads on the exams.
Adding to the madness is the Board of Regents voted on a new teacher and principal evaluation system in May this year that not only uses standardized testing to rate the effectiveness of both, but modified what the unions initially agreed to,  upping the ante from 20% to 40% weight on the tests. Unions are challenging this while three Regents didn't vote for the measure because of the high cost involved in developing the objective high-quality tests  not available to perform the evaluations
So NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg telephone his rich buddies asking for the funds. The donors agreed to fund it now the January Regents exams are back again.  The NY Times  called it, "...the nation's first private effort to pay for standardized testing." Bloomberg said,

“They just understand that this is the future of our country, our kids, the future of our city.”