RALEIGH — If the North Carolina General Assembly has its way during the 2009 session, students in North Carolina could see the end of state-mandated standardized tests.

House Bill 609, which is now in the Education Committee awaiting approval, would suspend the statewide testing program in public schools for two years. It would have no bearing on federal tests or tests which occur as a condition of federal grants.

Local Representatives Darrell McCormick and Sarah Stevens are both sponsors of this bill and hope to see it succeed. Thus far, they have found little opposition from other legislators or the public to this bill, and McCormick said he has heard from several teachers who are in support of it.

“The cost of additional state testing is around $40 million a year,” he said. “This would provide additional time for actual teaching. It would give the kids a few more days learning time. The teachers supported that position, too. It’s pretty much a positive response across the board.”

“The only response I’ve heard so far has been positive,” said Stevens. “I haven’t heard a lot of fuss about that yet.”

The concern for legislators is that with the current budget crisis, having duplicative testing is not efficient and doing away with that could save a great deal of money as well as be better for the teachers and students.

“Between what’s been testing the teachers and what’s been testing the kids, we’re losing time spent teaching,” said McCormick. “(The kids) might be the bigger benefactor.”

Administrators in the Surry County School System see state-mandated testing in a different light, however, noting its benefits rather than its downfalls.

“Surry County Schools would not be in favor of a moratorium on testing as proposed in current legislation. Surry County Schools is in favor of accountability, and the testing program in North Carolina has encouraged school systems, school programs and school personnel to focus instruction on meeting the needs of children as individuals. We feel that it would be counterproductive to what we have accomplished for children if we minimize the testing program to the extent requested by the current legislation,” said Dr. Ashley Hinson, superintendent of Surry County Schools. “We all concur that there is too much testing, but there are initiatives in place to focus students more on learning and less on testing that would be more advantageous than a moratorium on testing.”

The Mount Airy School System feels similarly about the direction testing has taken, feeling that there are better ways to look at the testing process.

“I am not sure that this would save much money at all. The only tests not required by No Child Left Behind are the high school EOC’s other than Algebra I and English I and the 10th grade writing test,” said Dr. Darrin Hartness, superintendent of Mount Airy City Schools. “I am more concerned about whether or not the tests we are giving are appropriate measures of the state curriculum. I am opposed to this bill. I am in favor of better tests (in some cases fewer), scored and reported by the state in a timely manner, with results teachers can use to help students before they move to the next grade level. The state testing system is being overhauled, and I am optimistic that a better system is on the horizon.”

The Bullying Bill

Bullying in schools has become another hot topic for North Carolina legislators during this session.

House Bill 776, entitled “No Bullying Anyone at Public Schools,” is the latest bill to cross the House floor after an earlier version, House Bill 548, known as the “School Violence Prevention Act,” was deemed too specific.

According to both bills, which are in the Education Committee, “bullying or harassing behavior is any pattern of gestures, verbal communications, or physical acts that take place on school property, at any school-sponsored function, or on a school bus” that places a student or employee in reasonable fear of harm or creates a hostile environment.

The second bill was proposed because legislators felt that the first bill’s language was too limited. House Bill 548 refers specifically to acts motivated by a difference in race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, academic status, gender identity or expression, physical appearance, sexual orientation or mental, physical, developmental or sensory disability.

“We proposed one that is more expansive,” said McCormick. “(Bullying) is not only one-sided. Different kids get picked on and sometimes that kid is the bully. You need to look at those things on an individual basis. The second one is a little bit more balanced.”

“We’ve had a lot of people pleased we did the second one,” said Stevens.

According to both bills, each local school administrative unit would be charged with forming a policy dealing with bullying and harassing behavior which would define the cases involved and state the consequences. It would also require school systems to set up a procedure for reporting bullying and harassment confidentially as well as for promptly investigating any reports. Schools should also prohibit reprisal or retaliation against any person who reports bullying or harassment.

“The first one really missed the point. It empowered the bully,” said McCormick, noting that often times it is not only the bully who gets punished.

The bill also dictates that local school administrative units will provide training about the local policy to school employees and volunteers and shall discuss the policy with students.

In order to also protect students, the bill states that the policy shall not be used to punish student expression or speech.

The “Education” Lottery

In an effort to make a point, legislators in the North Carolina House of Representatives have created a bill asking for the removal of the word education from the North Carolina State Lottery.

The decision to create this bill arose after Gov. Bev Perdue’s action to take money from the education general fund to balance the budget. That money came from lottery ticket sales.

“It was astonishing how quickly she went to the education fund to balance the budget,” said McCormick of Perdue, a self-proclaimed education governor. “Education and the lottery are tied together when they’re really not. We just want to call attention to that.”

“We want there to be truth in the advertising. It’s really put in the general fund,” said Stevens. “I don’t think people would have voted for it if they had known.”

The bill is in the Education Committee and McCormick does not expect it to go very far.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.