Oklahoma’s new school assessment and accountability system got its first approval by lawmakers Thursday.
State and federal law changes led to the overhaul, which involved a months-long study for the State Department of Education by a 95 member task force. The State Board of Education approved the new system in December.
Several House Democrats debated against the system, which preserves the school report cards derided by educators. Minority Leader Scott Inman said federal law doesn’t require them.
"But if you vote 'yes' on this, then you have to go back home to all your teachers and tell them, 'You know what, I had a chance to get rid of it, but I didn't,'" Inman said.
Broken Arrow Republican Michael Rogers led the charge for House approval. He says the A–F calculation is completely different now.
"This system was not created by this body. This new system was created by educators," Rogers said.
Several House Democrats railed against the system because it separates students into largely racial groups to track progress. Consequently, nonwhite students may be held to lower expectations than white students.
"You cannot really ... understand what this means to a community that I represent when we're saying, 'We're going to lower the standards and we're going to have you progress as best as you can, but when you do that, you're still not going to be proficient,'" said Rep. Regina Goodwin, who represents north Tulsa.
Tulsa Democrat Eric Proctor said felony charges against Superintendent Joy Hofmeister stemming from her 2014 campaign for the office are another issue.
"I understand the time constraints, but I think it may be best to lean on the side of caution as we move forward until we find out what's going to happen with the superintendent of public instruction and if she is, in fact, going to be the superintendent of public instruction when these rules go into effect," Proctor said.
Other House members complained the legislature’s approval of the new system was moving ahead before all their questions could be answered.
Lawmakers have a March 7 deadline to approve the new system before the governor signs off on it for the 2017–18 school year.
