TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Responding to the ongoing backlash about Florida’s standardized testing, the Florida Senate on Thursday passed a sweeping bill that would place limits on the use of tests in the state’s public schools.
The vote followed two days of debate during which some leading Republican senators said that the state had gone too far with a series of changes that were first initiated by former Gov. Jeb Bush.
“We’ve made some mistakes and we were bold,” said Sen. Alan Hays, a Republican from central Florida. “I feel like now our obligation is to honestly admit our mistakes, apologize for them and correct them.”
The Senate measure would cap the time students spend on state-authorized standardized tests to no more than 45 hours a year. It also permanently eliminates an 11th grade standardized test that Gov. Rick Scott previously suspended for this year.
