Why Md. lawmakers won’t take up a bill to reduce student testing this year

Washington Post
By Ovetta Wiggins
January 13, 2016


It is one of the few issues that Gov. Larry Hogan and Democratic legislative leaders agree on: students are tested too much.

But it also an issue that most likely will not get addressed this year.

Hogan said Wednesday that reducing the number of tests students are required to take each year was not something that was “on our radar screens” as lawmakers returned to Annapolis for their annual
90-day legislative session.

“It’s not a priority for this session,” he said during an annual back-to-session radio show.

The governor said he agrees with the teachers union on overtesting “in general,” noting that “we don’t agree on everything every day, but that’s one we 100 percent agree on.”

Hogan said he wants to wait for a commission that is reviewing overtesting before taking action on reducing the number of tests students take.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) agreed.

The commission was created under bill that was approved during the 2015 legislative session.
Hogan named members to the commission in October. The committee has started its work and is expected to release a report in July, after the legislature has adjourned.

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