Rep. Bucy: Set aside STAAR exams

State Rep. John Bucy III of Austin.

Texas legislators are letting state officials know they are concerned about the upcoming school year and want to reduce stress among students, teachers, administrators and staff. One way to do that, they argue, is to provide a waiver on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam for the 2020-21 school year.

The STAAR tests were not administered in the spring in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Texas Education Agency has placed them back on the calendar for this school year. That has led a lot of lawmakers to ask for the state to reconsider.

State Rep. John Bucy III (D-Austin) is among them.

“The governor waived STAAR testing requirements for the last school year and secured a federal waiver for DOE requirements. He must do so again for the upcoming school year,” Bucy told Education Daily Wire. “We will continue to support our students, teachers, and school districts by pushing for action from the governor and the Texas Education Agency.”

He said people in his district want the standardized, high-pressure tests set aside this year.

“We had an overwhelming response from constituents who are worried about school re-opening, the safety of students and teachers, and the STAAR testing requirements,” Bucy said. “These tests do not measure learning or provide meaningful evaluation for teachers in a normal school year, let alone one with rampant uncertainty and changes due to COVID-19. They are opposed to the added stress to students and teachers as well as the significant financial costs with no educational benefit.”

The freshman legislator from the 132nd District wrote a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott on July 10 to ask for a waiver again this school year, as well as requesting a waiver from all federally mandated tests. Eight other state representatives signed it as well.

“I am writing today to express my concern, as well as the concern of the undersigned representatives from Central Texas, with the current plan to uniformly resume in-person instruction in our public schools this fall upon the start of the 2020-2021 academic year,” the letter stated. “Our concern remains unchanged after reviewing the guidelines issued by the Texas Education Agency earlier this week. Given the recent, ongoing spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in many communities coupled with the capricious nature of the ongoing pandemic, we must consider a different approach to the decision-making process in terms of resuming in-person instruction so we do not suffer the consequences of reopening our schools too soon.”

Bucy said this issue is best handled locally, and he asked Abbott to trust the decisions of each school district.

“Our local school boards in Texas are the closest to the people and best situated to understand the full nuances of the impact of COVID-19 in their communities as it relates to public schools and education,” Bucy wrote. “It is well and good to provide guidance and best practices, but we must allow for reasonable flexibility in terms of ensuring the best course of action for local communities. 

"Whether or not to reopen schools is a decision that should be made at the local level and one that must be driven by data and science in order to strike the best balance of protecting public health as well as the health of our students and their families, keeping our teachers, support staff, and other educational professionals safe, and upholding our constitutional mandate to educate our children.

“If it is in the best interests for a particular school district to temporarily delay resuming in-person instruction while others may not have the same need to do so, the school board of that district should be empowered to make that decision." the letter added. "We trust our local elected officials in Central Texas and across the state, and we believe we must work with them on this matter. Similarly, in conjunction with giving local districts that ability, they should be given guidance and criteria based on public health standards to be used in coming to such a decision.”

Bucy said the only thing guaranteed for the 2020-2021 school year is uncertainty, adding, “Our focus must be on educating our children to the best of our abilities to prepare them to enter the work.” 

The Texas State Teachers Association has joined with legislators from both parties to ask Abbott to grant the waiver.

TSTA spokesman Clay Robison said the state tests don’t serve a useful purpose to begin with, and setting them aside for a second year will not be a great loss.

“Even under normal circumstances, STAAR testing and preparation waste time and money that should be spent on real teaching and learning, not prepping for a standardized test that does nothing except measure a student’s ability to pass a test,” Robison said in a June statement. “STAAR testing costs millions of dollars a year that should be spent on real educational lessons and activities, not testing.”

Bucy, a Democrat, was elected in 2018. During his first term, he worked for education funding and was named “Freshman of the Year” by the Texas House Democratic Caucus. In the Hill Country News readers’ poll, he was named “Best (Local) Elected Official.”

His district covers western Williamson County including northwest Austin, Cedar, Park, Leander, and the Brushy Creek area. 

A small business owner, he grew up in Austin before attending Austin College in Sherman. Bucy and his wife Molly, a former public school teacher, live in northwest Austin with their daughter Bradley Harper.