Prairie Public NewsRoom
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

House kills 'opt-out' bill

The House has killed a bill to allow parents to opt out of certain standardized tests.

As originally introduced in the House, it would have allowed an opt-out of the ACT, WorkKeys or other tests. The Senate amended it so the ACT, WorkKeys and other tests required for graduation would have been excluded from that.

It was sent to a conference committee.

"This bill strikes a workable balance between parental rights and local school district protections," said Rep. Dennis Johnson (R-Devils Lake), who served on the conference committee.

But the bill’s main sponsor – Rep. Ben Koppelman (R-West Fargo) – said the conference committee flipped the intent of the measure on its head – and asked that the House kill it.

"A bill that simply dealt with four directives the state had -- four parts the state told the districts to administer, but had been silent about whether or no parents had to subject their kids to that," said Koppelman. "Now three of those are taken out. One says you can opt out if you jump through 27 hoops, and everything else would be gone."

The bill faailed on a 7-87 vote.

Related Content