State to reimburse costs related to Common Core tests
School districts in California may get a new influx of money to reimburse as much as $600 million in estimated costs related to the administration of mandated tests, based on a state commission’s decision Friday.
The Commission on State Mandates found that required Internet access, training and technology necessary to administer new computer-based tests under the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, program, are reimbursable state mandates. This is because districts were required to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars beginning in 2013-14 on upgrading technology and related costs to comply with the state’s mandate to administer the tests.
“Today’s decision recognizes the constitutional obligation of the state to ensure that the state provides school districts and county offices of education with resources necessary to implement new state programs,” said Chris Ungar, president of the California School Boards Association and a San Luis Coastal Unified district trustee, in a prepared statement.
The decision comes just over a year after the association’s Education Legal Alliance and five local education agencies filed a claim requesting the reimbursement on behalf of districts and county offices of education throughout the state. The five agencies involved in the claim were Santa Ana Unified, Porterville Unified, Plumas Unified, Vallejo City Unified and the Plumas County Office of Education.State to reimburse costs related to Common Core tests | EdSource:
