Florida Legislators Vote to Reduce Testing Requirements

Published April 13, 2015

The Florida House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday, April 9 to scale back testing requirements for students. The bill awaits signing by Gov. Rick Scott (R), according to the Tampa Bay Times.

HB 7069 passed by a 105-6 vote. The bill received bipartisan support, as well as support from both school reform advocates and the largest teacher’s union in the state.

The final version of the bill eliminates the 11th-grade English test, makes the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test optional, and prohibits students from spending more than 5 percent of their total classroom hours on state-mandated exams. The bill also allows school to start as early as August 10, removes a requirement that schools give final exams in every subject not covered by state tests, and reduces the amount student test scores must count toward teacher evaluations.

Chris Neal ([email protected]) writes from New York, New York.

Image by Alberto G.