The City Council’s Education Committee voted 7 to 1 yesterday to pass a resolution rejecting the mayor’s “illconceived” policy of holding back third-graders who fail standardized English and math tests.

The centerpiece of Mr. Bloomberg’s plan for ending social promotion, it calls for third graders who score a two, three, or four on such tests to move on to fourth grade, while those who score a one will stay behind.

The resolution, which is not binding and has no legal power, criticized the mayor for failing to give aid to such struggling students earlier in their scholastic careers.

Students who do not score well enough on the exam can file an appeal for promotion. The student’s teachers would review the pupil’s class work to determine if the test score was an aberration.

The resolution also categorically disagreed with the notion that one “high stakes” test can determine the ability of a student to move on to the next grade. The full council will vote on the measure on June 28.

“I believe that the third-grade retention policy which the department of education has implemented is a terrible mistake,” Council Speaker Gifford Miller said. “I believe that the testing process was, by the mayor’s own confession, literally an experience that would have been better run by the Keystone Cops. They flunked the administration of the test process completely.”

Council Member David Yassky was the only committee member to vote against the resolution.

“There is much in the way that the Education Department and the mayor have implemented in the promotion policy that I disagree with,” Mr. Yassky said, noting what he called imperfections in the administration of the tests such as unequal start times.

“But this resolution simply concludes that it rejects the mayor’s promotion policy,” he said. “To me, that leaves us with the status quo. And I cannot endorse the status quo. There are too many students in each middle school and high school without the skills necessary.

“To the extent that this promotion policy says we have a moral imperative not to permit that. We have a moral imperative to make sure that the kids who are moving through the system have the skills they need, I think that’s exactly right.”

A former congressman and deputy mayor in the Koch administration, Herman Badillo, was the only person to testify in support of the mayor’s policy.

“What we have here in these schools and other schools throughout the city is a tragedy,” he said.

The committee chairwoman, Eva Moskowitz, also condemned the mayor and the department for not making an appearance at the hearing.

“I find that objectionable,” Ms. Moskowitz said. “The mayor has staked his reputation on this policy, $115 million is being spent on this policy, and to simply refuse to show up to a hearing is simply unacceptable.”

The Department of Education issued a statement attacking the committee for doing “nothing constructive to address the issue” and voting “to support the status quo.”