The Oklahoma Senate signs off on the state’s new school assessment and accountability system.
While the House spent 99 minutes on the matter a week ago, the Senate approved the standards without questions or debate in under six minutes.
Sen. Gary Stanislawski presented House Joint Resolution 1028 on the floor.
"The HJR approves the standards in whole, without instructions," Stanislawski told his colleagues.
The Senate approved HJR1028 34–8.
The plan has a new calculation for A–F school report cards. Opponents criticize a provision of the plan that separates students into largely racial groups to track progress, which may result in nonwhite students being held to lower standards than white students.
House members also said the legislature was moving too quickly to approve the standards, both because they had unanswered questions about them and because Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister's future is uncertain. Hofmeister faces four felony charges connected to her campaign for the office.
The legislature faced a March 7 deadline to approve the new school assessment and accountability standards.
The new plan was developed over several months by a State Department of Education task force in response to state and federal law changes.
