State Department of Ed. Signs Contract for Keystone Exams
While legislators are still debating whether Pennsylvania should institute graduation testing, the state Department of Education executed a $200 million contract with a company to start developing the tests.
Data Recognition Corporation of Maple Grove, Minnesota, will work on the Keystone Exams.
House Minority Leader Sam Smith says he has major concerns about the contract.
"This is just one more layer on top of another assessment system that they apparently don't think works. So one, I think it's a waste of money. It's going to be like $8 million this year and $200 and some million over the next four or five years," Smith said.
"Secondly, in a year when we have a very, very tight budget, to even be thinking of starting a new program such as this is just not common sense. There's not a lot of support for this in the legislature, I think they may be actually violating the law by signing this contract.
"I don't believe the average school board member and superintendents across Pennsylvania actually support this. But the biggest problem is it's a new program; it's additional money coming out of the education budget at a time when we really need to be controlling our spending and our revenues are down," Smith said.
The state is facing a $3 billion budget deficit.
Data Recognition Corporation of Maple Grove, Minnesota, will work on the Keystone Exams.
House Minority Leader Sam Smith says he has major concerns about the contract.
"This is just one more layer on top of another assessment system that they apparently don't think works. So one, I think it's a waste of money. It's going to be like $8 million this year and $200 and some million over the next four or five years," Smith said.
"Secondly, in a year when we have a very, very tight budget, to even be thinking of starting a new program such as this is just not common sense. There's not a lot of support for this in the legislature, I think they may be actually violating the law by signing this contract.
"I don't believe the average school board member and superintendents across Pennsylvania actually support this. But the biggest problem is it's a new program; it's additional money coming out of the education budget at a time when we really need to be controlling our spending and our revenues are down," Smith said.
The state is facing a $3 billion budget deficit.
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