Governor Hassan and the Business Industry Association (BIA) are fighting against parental rights in New Hampshire
California has a law that specifically states a parent’s right when it comes to excluding their children from the state standardized assessment.
“Not withstanding any other provision of the law, a parent’s or guardian’s
written request to school officials to exclude his or her child from any
or all parts of the assessments administered pursuant to this chapter
shall be granted.” [Section 852 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations
further provides that parents or guardians may annually submit a written
request to the school to excuse their child from any or all parts of the
CAASPP for the school year. See 5 C.C.R. §852(c).]
Just last week Governor Hassan VETOED HB603 which would have clarified your right to exclude YOUR children from the state standardized assessment. California is MORE parental rights than Governor Hassan!
Why is HB603 needed when many parents in New Hampshire excluded their children this school year?
Many parents were given false and misleading information from their school administrators when trying to exercise this fundamental right.
Is the Nashua Superintendent Misleading Parents?
What To Do When Your School Administrators Mislead You
Administrators used a technical advisory from the New Hampshire Department of Education that misled many parents into believing they had no right to opt out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.
For whatever reason, many administrators did not share the technical advisory that indicated that there were no New Hampshire laws preventing parents to exclude their children from this annual assessment.
By signing HB603 into law, there would be no confusion.
Not only is California protecting the rights of parents through state statute, parents are now demanding that their Department of Education INFORM parents that this law is on the books and they have this right to REFUSE.
What has New Hampshire’s Governor done? NOTHING to protect or inform parents of their fundamental rights.
WE continue to ENCOURAGE you to CONTACT the New Hampshire State Representatives and Senators and ask them to OVERRIDE Governor Hassan’s VETO of HB603.
E-MAIL:
HReps@leg.state.nh.us
Senators@leg.state.nh.us
Taken from the California petition and slightly CHANGED to fit NH :
There are probably as many reasons for parents and guardians to opt their children out of these tests as there are children. These include:
1) College-bound children already face a round of tests that determine their child’s college readiness – including, but not limited to, the SATs, the ACTs and various Advanced Placement Exams.
2) This computer-based testing program lacks a proven track record. The secrecy and non-transparency of the tests is a factor here. These tests have not been proven to be fair, reliable, valid and unbiased. There are unanswered questions about cut scores and whether the tests are developmentally appropriate.
3) Children with learning disabilities are being tested on material that is beyond their IEP (Individualized Education Program), whereas parents and guardians of children enrolled in accelerated programs are subjected to tests on material already covered in previous years.
4) Concern about about the privacy and security of the tests. Many object to the fact that private, for profit corporations are data mining their children with few specifics about how these companies can use this information in the marketplace. Others are concerned that the testing companies routinely monitor schoolchildren on their social media to uncover discussions about the tests. These vendors ARE NOT covered by the FERPA law.
5) Children who are sick, emotionally disturbed, suffering from personal or family trauma are already experiencing too much stress. Testing is one more stressor and it is unlikely that the test results will reflect their children’s abilities.
6) Tests have only served to narrow the curriculum — de-emphasizing the so-called ‘non-testable’ subjects that include the arts, PE, vocational studies, foreign languages, recess and other important components of a comprehensive education. Many do not like the fact that these high stakes tests have created an atmosphere of ‘teaching to the test’.
7) Time and money spent on the testing programs which extend beyond the administration of the tests. They see allocations for test prep materials, teacher training programs, tech support, and most significantly, expensive educational technology diverting money from other essential programs.