Keystone Exams Opposition Our speaker is Senator Andy Dinniman of Chester County, the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, who spoke on the Senate Floor this week once again in opposition to requiring students to pass the Keystone Exams to earn their high school diploma. Under the Pennsylvania Department of Education proposal, the Keystone Exams in Algebra, Language Arts, and Biology, must be passed by all students in order to earn their high school diploma. The state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) is scheduled to vote next Thursday in Harrisburg on whether to approve the Keystone Exams as a requirement for high school graduation. Senator Dinniman once again spoke on the Senate Floor this week to urge the Senate Education committee to voice its objections and disapproval of this unfunded state mandate. Both the Senate and House Education committees can vote to approve or reject the proposed requirement. Senator Dinniman says that, as a result of state funding cuts to public education by the current administration and legislature, many school districts have trimmed tutoring programs, early education programs, and other electives. He says many school districts, especially poorer ones, cannot afford the added cost of implementing the Keystone Exams as a requirement for graduation unless they receive additional funding from the state – and that doesn’t seem likely to happen under the current administration. Senator Dinniman says although the state Department of Education has declined to say how much it will cost Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts to implement the Keystone Exams, he believes a conservative estimate is $300 million. That’s in addition to the $65 million he says will be spent to develop the tests. The new standards would affect this year’s ninth grade class which is scheduled to graduate in 2017, if they pass the Keystone Exams.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 04:19:44 +0000
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