The Arizona state legislature is best known for its partisan bickering, inter-party squabbles, and fights over scarce tax dollars to reach a balanced budget.
So, it was somewhat of a miracle when a seemingly minor piece of legislation passed just moments before sine die on June 15. The legislation, Senate Bill 1457, which would allow public school students enrolled in online schools to take the annual standardized tests remotely, passed in bipartisan fashion out of the House and received a unanimous vote in the Senate.
While it didn’t make the headlines, this bill is critically important to the parents and to the students at those online schools. Most of the families with children enrolled in virtual education live in rural parts of our state. Most of us come from low-income households. So, what is relatively simple for parents and students in traditional brick-and-mortar schools, can be a hardship for us. Why? Because testing centers are few and far between we have to take time off of work and travel long distances to a city or community that is hosting a testing center. Long-distance travel means spending time we don’t have, and money we don’t have on food and hotel stays sometimes over a two-to-three-day period.
As a single mother of two children one who graduated from an online school, and one still enrolled in virtual education living on the Navajo Reservation with a full-time job as a union trade member, it’s terribly difficult for us to participate in the standardized tests. That is not only a disservice to my kids, but negatively impacts all kids in the public education system throughout the state.
Some parents face even more difficulty than living far away from testing centers. Many of the parents I have met over the years in the online school community have children with learning, mental, or physical disabilities. Enrolling in online education programs was the best fit for these families as their children are able to learn from home under the care and supervision of their parents.
So, you can imagine how difficult it has been during testing periods for these online students to be thrust into unfamiliar surroundings and expected to perform as well as traditional students.
Senate Bill 1457 fixes that by allowing online students to take those tests from home.
We have no problem with accountability or security measures to prevent fraud and SB1457 includes guardrails to that effect. The bottom line is our students need to be measured on these tests. The logistical and financial burdens the current system is imposing, however, are unnecessary in an age where students can take important tests like the LSAT online.
Remote testing isn’t anything new. Other states such as Colorado, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Utah to name a few, already allow remote testing or have recently passed legislation putting the practice in place for online students.
The legislation now awaits action by Gov. Katie Hobbs. My hope really, our hope is that Hobbs will recognize the rare bipartisan support for this bill, realize the merits of this legislation, and give it her signature. It’s just the right thing to do.
Celia Lowery is a resident of Williams, Arizona.
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