Photo: Moment RF
A bill to repeal and replace the annual STAAR test in Texas public schools has once again been proposed in the legislature after failing during the regular session. If passed in the special session, the STAAR test would be replaced with three smaller tests by the 2027-28 school year.
The STAAR test has long been accused of being ineffective at best, with some even saying it hurts student performance. That's why legislators like Houston Republican Senator Paul Bettencourt are working to end it.
He recently told us in an interview that three smaller tests spread throughout the school year are "a better way for students and teachers to understand where they are in the learning process and then get prepared for an end-of-year test."
The bill has been filed in both chambers of the state legislature as House Bill and Senate Bill 8 and is part of an education package that Bettencourt says will be a major game-changer for education. He said, "It's got a lot of momentum because it makes a lot of fundamental changes in the STAAR testing and reinforces the A-F public accountability system."
Unfortunately, the bill, like all other legislation, is currently stalled due to the House Democrats breaking quorum and fleeing Texas. Bettencourt says that, "We don't know when the quorum break will end; we just know that it will at some point."
He went on to say that whenever the Democrats do return to work and a quorum is restored, these bills will be ready to go.