The governor today vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for parents to opt their children out of standardized state tests.
House Bill 425 said parents can opt their children out of school testing without penalty. It also said students can choose to take tests with paper and pencil rather than on a computer.
In his veto statement, Nathan Deal said:
“House Bill 425 encourages the State Board of Education to implement assessment opt-out procedures and encourages the allowance of paper-and-pencil formats for such assessments. First, as I stated in my veto of SB 133 last year, local school districts currently have the flexibility to determine opt-out procedures for students who cannot, or choose not to, take these statewide assessments and I see no need to impose an additional layer of state-level procedures for these students. Additionally, encouraging the administration of assessments in paper-and-pencil format impedes the state’s priorities of returning test data to districts as quickly as possible, and reducing the opportunity for cheating.”
To read more, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.
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