The exit exam debate
The proposal to scrap the exam has been called “controversial” because it has divided education leaders from their usual allies in the Legislature.
While Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg say it’s not fair to ask our students to risk giving up their diplomas as a result of state budget cuts, many education leaders fear dismantling a centerpiece of California’s educational accountability system that was finally implemented just three years ago after years of delay.
But the debate over the exam, a budget line item that represents less than one-third of 0.001 of a percent of the budget shortfall, distracts from the more important “test” by which the state budget should be judged: the effect it will have on our children and on California’s future. By just about any measure, the budget on the table in Sacramento now receives a failing grade.
