Savings from STAR suspension would net about $15 million
By Tom Chorneau
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
A plan to suspend some statewide testing in advance of transition to new assessments based on the common core standards would save the state about $15 million, according to an estimate released Monday by the California Department of Education.
State schools chief Tom Torlakson has recommended that California move quickly to begin testing students based on new common core curriculum standards by the spring of 2015.
As part of that goal, Torlakson would suspend the current Standardized Testing and Reporting program beginning in 2013-14. Assessments required to meet federal mandates and those used in the Early Assessment Program would not be suspended under Torlakson’s plan.
There is interest in using some or all of the money saved by test suspensions to pay for other transition costs, especially those tied to the new computer-aided assessment system.
However, the overall expense for transitioning to the new standards could run as high as $1 billion to pay for such things as new textbooks aligned to the standards, teacher training, and technology needed for the new test itself.
The contract costs for the entire STAR program, however, runs about $50 million.
The Torlakson transition plan was delivered to the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown in January. Two bills are currently pending that would authorize the state to take the next step – one by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, AB 484, would