Both Education Committees Back Testing Move to Treasury

In a move some saw as an attempt to punish the Department of Education, both the House and Senate education committees met Wednesday, as they brought up legislation aimed at moving state standardized testing back to the Department of Treasury. Two Democratic senators voted against Senate Bill 945 in the Senate Education Committee. Senator Coleman Young II (D-Detroit), part of the opposition, argued that the Legislature brought this issue upon itself when they passed the Common Core Standards. In the House Education Committee the Democratic caucus raised concerns regarding the new testing and ultimately refrained from casting their votes.

Many legislators spoke up during debate in the committees, and Representative Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R-Alto) claimed that the Department of Education had been wasting their time rather than coming up with a new test. Concerns about the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) becoming the standardized test if testing was not moved to Treasury were aired by Representative Bob Genetski (R-Saugatuck). After discussing Treasury’s possibility of contracting out the test to other companies Senator Bruce Caswell (R-Hillsdale) said that the state would get a test suited for its needs by moving the testing.

Representative Tom McMillin (R-Rochester) was among the opposition and he offered an amendment to House Bill 5581 that would bring standardized testing back to the Department of Education at the start of 2017; however, his amendment only garnered support from the Democrats in committee and was rejected.

While giving testimony on the bill Wendy Larvick, assistant director of the Office of Public and Government Affairs, said that the Department of Education was not contractually obligated to the SBAC and they had just entered a memorandum of understanding. She also disputed the argument that the department was not allowing the House enough access to the testing process.

posted by PAA Online , Friday, May 23, 2014 9:44 AM
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