The Common Core tap-danced on their dreams.
Two teen performers were unfairly rejected by the Upper West Side's "Fame" high school because administrators put their low test scores ahead of their stellar auditions, a judge says.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler dismissed a lawsuit Monday by the students' parents on procedural grounds, but his opinion — that La Guardia HS of Music & Art and Performing Arts ignored a state law prohibiting schools from using test scores to rank pupils — could reverberate.
"I find it quite troubling that . . . students that seem to be overqualified for La Guardia did not gain entrance due to possible violations of the statute," Hagler wrote of opera singer Sophia Chesler and dancer Myles King, both 14.
Citing problems in rolling out the Common Core, state legislators amended the law in April to mandate that the exams "not constitute the major factor" in deciding promotion or admission.
"It was a cruel bait-and-switch to children," said Sophia's mom, Amanda Robb. "The promise of La Guardia HS was that very talented, very hardworking children would get a foot in the door to a creative life."
Sophia, of the Upper West Side, had long dreamed of attending the school that inspired 1980's "Fame" and nurtured Jennifer Aniston, Nicki Minaj and Robert De Niro.
And she seemed like a dream applicant: a straight-A honor-society student with near-perfect attendance — and the voice of an angel.
She spent eight months practicing "O cessate di piagarmi" for her December 2013 La Guardia audition and earned a score of 97 (out of 100) from a department educator.
I find it quite troubling that . . . students that seem to be overqualified for La Guardia did not gain entrance due to possible violations of the statute. - Supreme Court Justice Shlomo Hagler
Myles, of Flatlands, Brooklyn, was another top candidate, with a B+ average and perfect attendance. For a year, he sweated over his ballet and modern dance audition routine — and scored a 90.
But both teens, like 69 percent of all New York students, scored below-proficient on seventh-grade Common Core exams. Sophia got a 2.61 in English language arts and a 2.45 in math. Myles scored a 1.88 in ELA and a 2.31 in math. On both tests, a 3 is considered proficient.
La Guardia's admission standards, obtained by Robb through the Freedom of Information law, violated the state edict, the teens' parents say. Test scores accounted for 44 percent, while the talent audition was worth only 14 percent.
Robb joined Myles' mother, Marly King, to fight the school.
"Not saying we're not for academics, but the foundation is the arts," King told The Post.
Hagler dismissed their suit over timing and jurisdictional issues but urged the moms to pursue the case with state officials.
"The school must understand, especially La Guardia, that there's merit to art and that cannot be discouraged or minimized because of another academic test," he said.
Robb said she drained Sophia's college fund for legal fees, but the girl is now happy at the Upper West Side's Special Music School.
Myles attends John Dewey HS in Gravesend, Brooklyn, but says he'd go to La Guardia "in a heartbeat."
La Guardia staffers have accused Principal Lisa Mars of placing academics over art since she took over in 2013. Nearly 20 percent of dance students accepted in 2014 failed the audition but had high test scores.
"She's trying to turn La Guardia into a Stuyvesant," Ilann Maazel, the moms' lawyer, told the judge.
Mars did not return e-mails seeking comment.
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