UPDATE: Governor Scott signed the testing bill into law Tuesday saying, “I agree with many teachers and parents who say we have too many tests, and while this legislation is a great step forward, we will keep working to make sure Florida students are not over tested.”
In an unscheduled move that surprised many, the House took up and passed the sweeping testing bill- HB 7069- on Thursday. The bill is now headed for Governor Scott’s desk. The bill does, in part, the following:
- Removes the state requirement for most end of course exams in all grades
- Removes the requirement for mandatory, state-required remediation in middle and high school based on the FSA (intensive reading and math)
- Allows districts to start the school year as early as August 10th
- Sets a cap on all state and district testing to no more than 5% of a student’s time
- Reduces the amount that test scores count in teacher evaluations from 50% to 33%
