| 3-year TAAS exemption restored Critics contend the law will not hold districts, immigrant students accountable 04/13/2001 By Lesley Téllez / The Dallas Morning News A bill passed by the state Legislature will reinstate a three-year maximum exemption for new immigrants in taking the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test.
The bill, passed unanimously by the House and Senate, will reverse a law passed in the last legislative session that gave immigrant children only a year in Texas schools before requiring that they take the TAAS test.
The new bill also tightens eligibility requirements – only new immigrants with limited education or students with limited English proficiency who have lived in the United States for three years or less can be exempted.
"There is accountability in the state of Texas, and there will be more accountability with this new law," said Isabella Piña-Hinojosa, bilingual and English-as-a-second-language coordinator in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district and president of the Bilingual ESL Association of the Metroplex.
The Carrollton, Dallas and Richardson districts were at the forefront of groups in the state advocating the bill's passage.
Richardson officials said the old policy wasn't fair to students and could paint a falsely negative image of immigrant-rich districts. More than 70 languages are spoken among 28 percent of the student body.
"If you test kids in a language they don't understand and haven't had time to learn, they don't have an opportunity to be successful," said Karen Neal, principal of Parkhill Junior High School, who was active in trying to get the bill passed.
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, vice chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, wrote the bill. It was sponsored by Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville.
Because the Legislature passed the bill unanimously, the law should take effect immediately when Gov. Rick Perry signs it. That will be in time for the April TAAS test.
The writing portion of the test was administered in February and was not subject to the new bill's standards, RISD officials said.
Ms. Neal said the effect was visible at her school.
"We tested kids who had very little experience in English and who were really not even able to understand the prompt," she said.
The results for the TAAS writing test will arrive in May, and Ms. Piña-Hinojosa said that Mr. Perry can choose whether he wants to make them retroactive to include the new bill's provisions.
Critics of the new bill charge that a three-year exemption doesn't hold students or school districts accountable for achieving high test scores.
And, because the majority of new immigrants in most school districts are Hispanic, some worry that higher numbers of Hispanic children will be funneled into special education classes where they won't be challenged and won't have to take the test.
Because of those concerns, Rep. Domingo Garcia, D-Dallas, introduced a competing bill that would let new immigrants waive the TAAS for just one year. They would be tested in the second year, but their scores wouldn't be added into the state's accountability system that evaluates school performance. The third year, all new immigrants would be required to take the test, and their scores would be counted.
Although that bill is still pending, Mr. Garcia added an amendment to the Zaffirini-Oliveira bill, clarifying the definition of a recent "unschooled" immigrant as the only group qualified for exemption.
In Richardson, assistant superintendent of finance David Tiffin said the bill won't affect Spanish-speaking children as much as Sudanese, Greek and Kurdish students.
"[This bill] means that those who shouldn't be tested don't have to be tested," he said. "This was a fairness question."
Staff writer Lesley Tellez can be reached at 972-234-3198, ext. 132, or by e-mail at .
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