Eissler Circulates Letter Asking for Delay of STAAR Rule

House Public Education Chairman Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, today added his voice to the growing chorus asking the Texas Education Agency to defer implementation of STAAR's 15 percent rule.

The letter, which Eissler will formally send to Education Commissioner Robert Scott on Friday, follows a similar one from his counterpart in the Senate, Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. His letter says that delaying the requirement that the new exams make up 15 percent of high school students' final grades is in their best interest, and that the state agency has the authority to grant a waiver. 

"Opposing excessive testing is not a retreat on school accountability and rigorous standards in the classroom," Eissler wrote. 

Eissler carried a bill during the 2011 legislative session that would have left up to school districts the decision whether to factor the exams into high school students grades. It passed the House overwhelmingly, but Shapiro stopped it in the Senate. 

Eissler has also circulated another letter inviting his colleagues in the House to sign on to his letter addressed to Scott.