Bill to scrap the STAAR test fails in the Texas Legislature
House Bill 4 would have State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test for three shorter tests given throughout the school year.
Rep. Langraf released a statement saying, in part, 'As I've reported, the bill I co-authored to scrap the STAAR was passed overwhelmingly here in the Texas House of Representatives. Then we sent the bill—HB 4—to the Texas Senate. Rather than vote up-or-down on the good bill we sent to them, the Senate amended HB 4. Rather than scrap STAAR, the Senate amendments would have just created STAAR 2.0. Lipstick on a pig. This is an old trick that's been done before, and as a member of the conference committee, I wouldn't go along with it. I think it would've been insulting to our students, teachers and taxpayers to change the name the test and pretend like we got rid of STAAR. After desperately trying to get the Senate to go back to the original bill that would have actually scrapped STAAR, they dug in and refused. In this case, not passing the bill would be better than lying to the people of Texas about scrapping STAAR. With the legislative session adjourning Monday, this all means HB 4 is dead. HB 4 (as passed by the House) would have been great for Texas students, teachers and taxpayers. It would have also been good politics for any lawmaker who helped pass it. I won't give up the fight to scrap STAAR, and neither should you. But we will have some more work to do.'
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