CHENANGO COUNTY – Of the many thorns adorning local communities in recent months, the implementation of the Common Core that was rolled out to students and teachers alike last year still remains a major point of contention among parents and educators.

New York lawmakers are now stepping in to slow the pace of the state mandated and federally-incentivized curricula, which wields an agenda of increasing the overall U.S. educational rankings versus international counterparts.

The announcement released by the State Education Department this week was met with mixed skepticism, politically speaking, as legislative leaders urged state officials to delay the use of Common Core-aligned tests for two years though a moratorium.

On Tuesday, the State Board of Regents P-12 Education and Higher Education adopted several measures presented in a report from a Regents’ work group to adjust implementation of Common Core standards.

Under the recent changes, the requirement to pass Common Core-based Regents exams at the college and career ready level will be extended. The class of 2022 – today’s 4th graders – will be the first to face the new higher graduation requirements.

In a statement from New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo's office earlier this week, Cuomo said the recommended changes are “another in a series of missteps by the Board of Regents that suggests the time has come to seriously reexamine its capacity and performance. These recommendations are simply too little, too late for our parents and students.”