Despite Democrats’ opposition, the Texas House on Tuesday advanced a proposal to get rid of STAAR, the state’s widely unpopular standardized test that takes place at the end of the school year.
The 82-56 vote was a far cry from the broad support a previous House proposal received earlier this year.
It also put a spotlight on what the new test could look like, which will determine whether the replacement will ease the pressures of testing on students or exacerbate them.
Lawmakers say an alternative is urgently needed, given that STAAR test results have an outsized impact on the accountability rating system the state uses to evaluate how well schools are educating Texas students.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are considering similar bills to replace the test during the second special legislative session. House Bill 8 and its counterpart in the upper chamber, Senate Bill 9, would swap STAAR for three shorter tests to be administered at the beginning, middle and end of the school year.
The similar language in both bills is a result of negotiations between Rep. Brad Buckley, HB8’s author, and Sen. Paul Bettencourt, SB9’s author, after the chambers failed to agree on how to revamp STAAR during the regular session.
Democrats were not pleased with the concessions Buckley made, which they said would give too much power to the TEA in creating and grading the new test.
