Once again, the state Board of Regents is using the pandemic as an excuse for lowering high-school graduation requirements: letting students more easily appeal failing scores on Regents exams through the end of this school year. 

Seniors must score a 65 or higher to pass Regents tests in at least five subject areas to earn a high school diploma. Now kids with failing scores of at least 50 can appeal.

This follows one year when the exams were canceled and the requirement waived entirely and a second with greatly eased requirements.

And some regents want the exit exams junked forever, arguing that the tests disproportionately “harm” minority and disadvantaged students — meaning, they expose the fact that they haven’t gotten a quality education.

Heck, one principal complained to Chalkbeat: “Even though the exams will be easier to pass, students still will face pressure to score well above a 50.” Worse, he wasn’t “sure what the state is hoping to accomplish by having the Regents exams at all.” Um, ensuring that a New York high-school diploma isn’t worthless?

The people in charge of education in the Empire State, and all too many throughout the system, are doing their best to keep everyone in the dark about their failures. Is it any wonder that families and students are leaving the public school system in droves?