Governor will veto proposal to eliminate high school exit exam

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will fight a Democratic budget proposal to eliminate the state's high school exit exam as a requirement to receive a high school diploma, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

“Gov. Schwarzenegger has been a longtime supporter of California’s High School Exit Exam and will veto any proposal to eliminate it,” spokeswoman Camille Anderson said.

Created by state legislation in 1999, the exit exam has been controversial from the start. Members of the class of 2006 were the first required to pass the exam, which tests basic math and language-arts skills, to earn their diplomas. Beginning in the sophomore year, students have six chances to take the exam. A score of at least 55% on the math portion, which is geared to an eighth-grade level, and 60% on the English, which is ninth- or 10th-grade level, is required.

The proposal to eliminate the exam, which outraged some members of the education community,  emerged as part of the Democrats' proposal to fill the state's $24.3-billion deficit. Critics complained that opponents of the exit exam were using the budget process to set policy and noted that the proposal would save the state a scant $5 million to $10 million. The proposal was approved on a party-line vote by a joint legislative panel this week, and will head to the Assembly floor next week.

-- Seema Mehta

Comments

[Ca Commenter]

The exit exam is nothing but another way to waste taxpayer money. The governor should quit grandstanding or the people should take this into our own hands and vote by referendum. This is about the only one thing I agree with the Democrats, who have pretty much ruined our state, on.

[Schigolch]

You have to score 55% on eighth grade math in order to graduate from high school? No wonder the US high school diploma is an international joke.

[Figgins]

Of course the Democrats want to eliminate the exit exam. The Schools don't like anything that can show what a poor job they're doing, and thus be ammunition for legislators trying to cut back on their funding. Afterall, why spend so much money on a system that doesn't produce a good product? The only way is to hide the evidence of the poor product.

[Stephen Krashen]

State Schools Superintendent O'Connell thinks we need the high school exit exam to identify students who fall behind. Professional teachers who work with students daily can inform us which students are in academic trouble far more accurately and economically than an exit exam written by distant strangers.

Study after study has shown that high school exit exams are useless: They do not result in higher achievement and do not lead to more college completion, higher employment, or higher earnings by graduates.

Keeping a useless, time-consuming, and costly exam while cutting programs and firing teachers is all wrong.