Rep. Johnson: Reduce student, teacher stress, cancel STAAR tests

State Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Dallas County) said the 2020-21 school year will be unique and stressful, and one way to reduce the anxiety that students and teachers will experience is top set aside the Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exams. 

The STAAR tests were not administered in the spring as the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close suddenly.  But the Texas Education Agency has scheduled the tests for this year. Johnson and other lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, have asked the state to cancel them for the 2020-21 school year.

On July 14 she wrote a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott requesting that he set aside the test for the upcoming school year.

“We are in a time of crisis,” Johnson wrote. “Texans are living in fear and uncertainty every day as the threat of COVID-19 grows. Many of our constituents on the brink of financial distress as they weigh the options of working provide for their family or staying home to protect the health of their loved ones.”

She said she appreciates that school districts were “working hard” to provide options for students and their families. Adding the STAAR exams was inappropriate at this time, Johnson said.

“While more considerations will be needed to be made in the future, I believe that it is now clear that requiring students to take the Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) during the 2020-21 school year is egregious,” she wrote.

Johnson said the health crisis may well grow worse.

“We have not seen the worst of this pandemic, and it is unjust to put the stress of testing on our students and teachers who are fearing for their lives.”

Johnson repeated her position on Facebook on July 16.

“In case you missed it, I wrote to Gov. Abbott this week and asked him to issue another waiver for high-stakes STAAR testing for the upcoming school year,” she said. “In this moment of crisis, it’s important that we all work together to ease the burden on families, educators and students.”

Texas State Teachers Association President Noel Candelaria released a statement announcing the teachers’ union’s opposition to the TEA decision to resume STAAR exams.

“We are in the middle of a health emergency, we don’t even know for sure what form education is going to take this fall, and the state education commissioner has announced that STAAR testing will resume,” Candelaria said June 30. “The Texas State Teachers Association has a better idea: Let’s continue the timeout on STAAR testing.

“Standardized testing should be the last priority for students, educators and policymakers," she said. "There are other, much more crucial priorities for the state, beginning with a plan for safe schools, a plan for returning students, teachers and employees safely to classrooms, but only after the pandemic has begun to subside, not while COVID cases are still increasing.

“Even under normal circumstances, STAAR exams waste millions of tax dollars, and that waste will be even more critical now that the state and school districts will be suffering millions of dollars in lost revenue from the pandemic. Our schools can’t afford the loss of more tax dollars on testing, and our students and educators can’t afford the distraction as they continue to adjust to new methods of teaching and learning. Let’s close the learning gap, not enrich testing companies.”

Johnson, a Democrat, is in her first term representing the 115th House District in Dallas County, which includes the cities of Coppell, Farmers Branch, Irving, Carrollton, Dallas and Addison. 

Texas Monthly named her “Freshman of the Year” in 2019.

Johnson has been a lawyer since 1991, specializing in personal injury cases, family law, and mediation. She grew up between Houston, and Auburn, Alabama, and attended the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston Law School.

Johnson and her wife Dr. Susan Moster, a gastroenterologist practicing in Fort Worth, have two teenage sons. Although her office provided a statement, she declined to answer questions despite repeated attempts.