A bill to limit the amount of time students take standardized tests in Florida made its way through the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education Thursday morning, passing by a vote of 7-1.
SB 616, sponsored by Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, aims to reduce high-stakes testing in Florida and give school districts transitioning into the state's new Common Core-aligned education standards. The bill would also eliminate the requirement for the 11th-grade English Language-arts test.
If Legg's bill passes, it would limit the amount of time individual school districts can allocate for students to take standardized tests. The bill would prohibit districts from scheduling more than 5 percent of total school hours to give tests -- but if the district requires more time, it must receive written consent from parents.
A significant portion of debate on the bill centered around several issues education advocates have pushed for in recent months, including putting a temporary pause on school grades until districts had fully transitioned to the state's new standards.
Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, was particularly vocal of protecting schools from penalties of dropping letter grades. One of his proposed amendments would have created a "safety net" for schools to avoid them being "harshly penalized" for a "botched roll-out" of the Florida Assessment test.
Earlier this month, Florida's students ran into issues when taking the test due to technical malfunctions which were later blamed on a cyber attack on the testing company's servers.
Republican legislators disagreed over the necessity of a temporary pause on school grades.
"We need to make sure our children are continuing to raise the bar and do better," said Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland.
"It is very important to grade our schools, grade our students. ... We need to pay attention to where we stack up," said Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.
Bullard's amendment failed.
Opponents of the state's new education standards came out in full force to Wednesday's meeting to voice their concerns over the current state of Florida's education system, many of them criticizing the Florida Standards and high-stakes testing.
"We are feeding children garbage with this Common Core curriculum," said Chris Quackenbush of Stop Common Core FL.
Others called the standards an "abomination" and accused the Florida Department of Education of "spending like drunken sailors."
Sen. Gaetz fired back at the criticisms of high-stakes testing, saying parents were often the root cause of student anxiety and a "testing frenzy" over statewide assessments.
"We don't need to stampede ourselves toward the precipice of working ourselves up over this issue," he explained.
The bill's approval comes after the House voted on a similar bill to eliminate the 11th-grade English language-arts test. Additionally, the legislation would require each school district to create tests for each subject not covered by the FSA.
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen
