New York adds climate education, financial literacy requirements for high school students 

In a Q&A, New York Board of Regents member and former Lake Placid Central Schools Superintendent Roger Catania discusses the new requirements starting in 2026

By Mike Lynch

Students in New York state schools should expect to receive more instruction in climate education and financial literacy starting as soon as the fall of 2026, according to new graduation requirements adopted by the New York State Board of Regents in July. 

The two new course requirements were approved with a much larger project called Portrait of a Graduate that developed out of the New York Inspires program, which launched as an initiative in 2019 and was adopted by the board in November 2024. 

The Portrait of a Graduate is an educational framework that will be phased in over the next several years. It focuses on experiential learning and building specific skills to help students develop six characteristics: academic preparedness, creativity and innovation, critical thinking, effective communication, global citizenship, and reflective, future-focused thinking. Students will still be taking the written Regents tests, but they won’t be required for graduation. 

Details for the climate education and financial literacy programs are still being developed and are expected to be released later in this school year. 

The plan is to have the changes for those two subjects in place for students graduating in 2031, which means students entering ninth grade next year will have to meet the standards by the time they finish high school. Some schools may not add the requirements right away, giving educators more flexibility in implementing the changes. 

The changes were developed through feedback from stakeholders that started in 2019. 

In a question-and-answer session, New York Board of Regents member and Saranac Lake resident Roger Catania addresses the changes. Catania was Lake Placid school district superintendent from 2013-2021. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

ML: Tell me how the new graduate requirements for climate education and financial literacy came about?

RC: The Board of Regents and the Department of Education have been working on developing new graduation requirements for the past six years or so, and we’ve heard recommendations from what we call the Blue Ribbon Commission, which is a group of educational stakeholders, including students, teachers, administrators, people outside of higher education, and businesses, all of whom have been contributing ideas to what our graduation requirements should be. And so those recommendations have been widely publicized, and now they’re being formed, and they are being formulated into a plan that we’re implementing gradually. Among these are two new courses, including climate education (and financial literacy). And this was really advocated for loudly and clearly from students throughout the state. So it’s very exciting.

ML: How is climate change taught in schools now? 

RC: Climate change is in our standards, and what that means is that in certain courses or certain subjects, there should be  aspects of climate change being taught and being learned at various grade levels. In that respect, it exists, but there’s no specific course outline. There’s certainly no required curriculum in New York State schools and districts. So the course equivalent that we’re proposing would be in addition to what exists already.

ML: Tell me why you believe the climate requirement should be part of the coursework. 

RC I was pleased to interact with dozens and dozens of students who are wonderful, articulate, powerful, passionate spokespeople for the need for climate education in school. These are students from New York City to western New York to the North Country. But what they told us was that in all of the years of school, and we’re talking about high school kids, who were 10th, 11th and 12th grade, they said they had learned little. They had little to no instruction in climate education, and that this was devastating to them because they’re growing up in an environment which they’re well aware is being threatened by climate change. So they really wanted and they were also aware, and as we were all aware, that New Jersey. Jersey and other states had implemented an interdisciplinary approach to climate education, and they wanted to know why New York State wasn’t doing the same thing now. In support of what New York State was doing, we’ve had Climate Education integrated into the New York State learning standards, especially in science, but also in social studies for a number of years. So it’s not like climate education isn’t already a part of things, but what these kids were telling us was they weren’t seeing it, they weren’t hearing it, they weren’t learning about it. And if that’s the case, then we do something differently. And that’s where the whole idea of having a course and not just resting on the fact that, well, we had done our work by integrating them into the standards a number of years ago. Now, if that’s not working, then we then need more, and that’s where the course came from.

ML: We talked about the climate education requirement a lot, but I also wanted to mention the financial literacy aspect too. Why is that becoming a requirement?  

RC: The Blue Ribbon Commission was an opportunity for all stakeholders to be involved in the conversations about what matters in schools and financial literacy rose to the top. Students thought it was one of the most important educational components that needed to be increased. It does actually play into kids’ programs right now, often in their economics class. But the feedback has been that that isn’t enough, and it happens too late because that’s a senior class,

ML: The state Board of Regents was looking for $536,000 in the 202 state education budget to support climate education but didn’t receive it. Can you tell me how that money would have been used?

RC: The idea was to provide staffing at the State Education Department and resources for schools and districts and teachers. So it would pay for the development of those resources.

ML: Okay, what’s the timeline for getting funding?

RC: It’s actually imperative right now because this is the time we’re developing our budgetary requests for the coming year. So we know that the more we can get state funding support for it, the more likely we are to be able to accomplish what we want to accomplish at a high level. So that’s an important job of ours to advocate for that money. And I’m actually the co- chair of the state aid Advocacy Committee, and so it’s a big part of my job too. All that being said, the Board of Regents and the Department of Education are committed to ensuring that the course will become a part of the new graduation requirements and to provide the support that’s needed. We’re still figuring out the how, but we’re going to get to the how. 

ML: Can you explain the Portrait of a Graduate framework? 

RC: The Portrait of a Graduate is…a shift in the way we focus on our expectations for students statewide. The idea is that assessment would shift from paper-and-pencil tests, like the Regents exams, toward new project-based, experiential-based ways to assess student learning in ways that are connected, rather than in isolated courses. For example, we would expect that all students are assessed as critical thinkers so that they can demonstrate the critical thinking that they have learned in some courses or in some outside experiences, maybe through a summer internship or maybe through a career and technical course. Another expectation would be to be able to demonstrate effective communication. Not just writing, which is traditionally what we’ve assessed the most in school but to be able to assess speaking and presenting to an audience, those kinds of things. So all of these are part of the new Portrait of a Graduate. Portrait of a Graduate is not a new idea or new term. You would find states and school districts across the country using it. The difference between ours and theirs is that we are shifting our assessment to the Portrait of a Graduate. In other words, we’re going to expect that schools and students will be able to demonstrate these qualities and to demonstrate those in place of, or sometimes in addition to, some of the more traditional paper-and-pencil tests.

ML: Is there anything else you want to add? 

RC: I think it’s exciting. New York Inspires, the new graduation requirements, climate change education—these are big changes. And I think that this could very well be one of the most significant changes to public education in New York state that we’ve seen in a long while. And I’m very optimistic for it, and I’m excited. I’m excited for kids in the future. I think that schooling and learning is going to get better for them.

Photo at top: Roger Catania, a member of the New York State Board of Regents, stands in front of Petrova Elementary School in Saranac Lake. Photo by Mike Lynch