All but one of the Rio Grande Valley’s state representatives have signed their names on a bipartisan letter with 61 other Texas House representatives calling on the Texas Education Agency to allow students and families to opt out of this year’s STAAR exam.
Written by Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, the letter urges concern in the face of growing numbers of COVID-19 on Texas campuses.
“Requiring that all students be in-person for the administration of exams creates an untenable environment that puts students and school personnel at immense risk of transmission,” it reads. “Since it is evident that the Agency has no plans to seek the federal waivers necessary to cancel the 2020-2021 administration of the STAAR, something we strongly believe the Agency should reconsider, at a minimum it should allow students and their families the opportunity to opt-out of the exam.”
Reps. Ryan Guillen, R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, Oscar Longoria, Eddie Lucio III, Armando “Mando” Martinez, Sergio Munoz Jr. and Terry Canales all signed their names to the letter.
Canales discussed STAAR testing in an interview with The Monitor last month, saying he planned to work with other representatives to diminish the importance placed on standardized testing.
“We need to reduce the number of tests that we give our children,” he said. “Last spring, I asked the governor to cancel the 2019-2020 STAAR test, and I’ve repeated that request for the ongoing year.”
Noting connectivity problems that have affected Valley students learning online during the pandemic, Canales said a STAAR test would be another undue burden. He illustrated it with a personal example. “Because my wife is in the high risk category, my children are not able to attend public school. I’ve got five children, and managing that and having to juggle a standardized test at the same time is well within the realm of what I would call impossible,” he said.
