East Texans react to failure of STAAR test bill
LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK) — The Texas Senate and House failed to come out of their closed-door negotiations with a compromise on House Bill 4, a bipartisan plan to eliminate STAAR testing in Texas Public schools.
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'The Senate and the House had a conference committee, which is ample people from House and the Senate, and they couldn't come to agreement, unfortunately,' State Rep. Joanne Shofner (R), Nacogdoches, said.
The bill died after both chambers couldn't agree on a final version before the session deadline.
'Not only am I disappointed, but my granddaughter is very disappointed,' Shofner said.
State Rep. Jay Dean / (R) Longview said the bill still has a chance to be brought back to life.
'I believe in trust that we'll end up going back to special session and get it fixed,' Dean said.
Representative Dean said House Bill 4 was included as part of an overall education package and hopes this isn't the end.
'I'm going to do my best to, you know, try to persuade him to, hey, let's get this fixed,' Dean said. 'Let's get this straight.'
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However, one organization in support of ending STAAR testing said the proposed changes made by the Texas Senate would actually make things worse than the status quo.
'The Senate rewrote the bill near the end of the session and made it worse than we have now,' Texas State Teachers Association, Clay Robison said.
The association supported the proposed changes made by the Texas House, which included switching from one test to three tests throughout the year, with a shorter grading process.
'We're glad that the Senate bill died,' Robison said.
He said the Senate's version gives too much power to the TEA's education commissioner, Mike Morath, allowing him to amend school grading standards without needing approval from the state legislature.
'If school districts contested the change in the grading standards or contested their accountability ratings, they would have been subject to state sanctions, including takeover by the state,' Robison said.
Robison said the Texas State Teachers Association will not support the bill in its current version from the Senate.
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'We think we're better off with the bad, flawed system that we have now than we would have been with the new Senate version,' Robison said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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