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Judge Holds Off on Exit Test Ruling

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 12:07 CDT

By Becky Bartindale and Luis Zarago, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

May 10--Seniors looking for last-minute relief from California's high school exit exam must wait at least until Friday for a judge to decide whether the state can deny them a diploma for failing to pass the test.

Students absolutely should not count on being excused from the exam, state Superintendent Jack O'Connell said in a news conference Tuesday. Even if the state loses this round, he said, it will quickly and vigorously appeal.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman had been expected to announce his decision Tuesday, but delayed doing so after hearing from the state Attorney General's Office. Freedman gave no indication at a hearing Tuesday that he would retreat from a tentative ruling, issued Monday, that would bar the state from requiring all members of the Class of 2006 to pass the exam to get a diploma.

But Freedman agreed Tuesday to give the lawyers more time to flesh out their legal arguments about to whom such a ruling would apply -- the handful of seniors named in the case or the 47,000 seniors who have yet to pass the test, 10.7 percent of this year's class.

Local schools have been anxiously watching the court fight and encouraging students and parents to continue to take the exam seriously. A section of the test was offered Tuesday, and district officials said some parents telephoned to ask about how the ruling might affect their children.

The state Attorney General's Office argued Tuesday that any ruling should apply only to the students who filed the suit. This is the first year students have been required to pass the test to graduate.

Freedman's tentative ruling, which would have statewide implications, was based on the lawsuit's premise that the exam is unfair because not all public school students have access to the same quality of education, especially the poor and those struggling to master English.

That claim would still have to be resolved at a trial. But the students' lawyers are asking the judge to act immediately to prevent members of the Class of 2006 from being denied a diploma as the case makes its way through the courts.

Although nearly 90 percent have passed the exam, only 83 percent of low-income seniors have passed, and only 71 percent of seniors who are learning English have passed. Students must still meet basic course requirements to graduate; in a typical year about 50,000 Californians fail to graduate for one reason or another.

Arturo Gonzalez, one of the lawyers representing the students, said Tuesday he is optimistic he'll have a favorable ruling by week's end.

"We'll do whatever it takes to get these kids their diplomas," Gonzalez said, "however many hoops we have to jump through."

Mayra Perez, a senior at Santa Clara's Wilcox High School who came to the United States from Mexico when she was a young girl, recently learned she'd passed both the math and English parts of the exit exam after repeated struggles. But she thinks it's a good idea to drop the test for others.

"I was in that position once -- it's scary," she said. "I think they should still take it away."

Whatever the judge decides later this week, it's unlikely to resolve the issue for students and their families.

"Even when there is a ruling, the next shoe to drop will be when the state superintendent files an appeal," said Bob Nunez, superintendent of the East Side Union High School District.

O'Connell called the exit exam "a key component" of the state's accountability effort. He also said he would not voluntarily drop the requirement this year because to do so would be unfair to students who have worked hard to pass the exam and to employers "who want meaning restored to the high school diploma."

Freedman is also scheduled to hear arguments next week in another lawsuit against the exam. Public Advocates, which won a $1 billion settlement over equal access to education in California schools, claims the Education Department failed to properly investigate alternatives to the exam.

Special education students won a one-year reprieve as part of the settlement of another lawsuit.

By Becky Bartindale and Luis Zaragoza. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: San Jose Mercury News

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