Delaware PTA Statement

Topic: House Bill 50 w HA1, SA1, SA2

Submission 1 of 3
June 19, 2019

House Education Committee

Legislative Hall
Dover, Delaware 19901
Dear House Education Committee,
I would like to address House Bill 50 which will be brought to the floor in the
House on Tuesday, June 23rd. I have several points to make so I will be sending my
statement to you in three separate submissions. I was asked by Terri Hodges, president
of the Delaware PTA, to speak on behalf of the organization and its more than 7,000
statewide members. The Delaware PTA fully supports HB 50 as amended because it
continues to afford the parents of Delaware the right to choose what is best for their
child. According to Yvonne Johnson, the Delaware PTA was inundated with
communications from parents across the state regarding threatening and intimidating
communications some experienced after requesting to opt their child out of the Smarter
Balanced Assessment. Several administrators claimed Secretary Murphy of the
Delaware Department of Education gave the directives on how to handle opt-out
requests and even provided a form letter to be used.
As of today the DOE and the leadership of the House and the Senate
Education Committees now claim that parents already have the right to opt-out of the
test and that this particular legislation is not necessary. If this is so, then why all the
intimidation and scare tactics in the first place? There is a difference of opinion within
the membership of the House on this as well. It is my understanding, after hearing an
explanation by Representative Sean Lynn, Esquire that there is no actual federal
documentation of a parents legal right to opt-out their child from standardized
testing and no precedent cases to support it at this point. However, he did state that
with his knowledge of education law he is certain a high court would uphold parental
rights on this issue, every time. With that said, it is well within a states rights to afford
additional rights to its citizens through legislative measures, but a state may not take
away rights granted by the federal government. So, Delaware has every legal right to
pass this legislation.
The renewal of ESEA/NCLB has received a recent shot in the arm with the
bipartisan bill Every Child Achieves Act of 2015. This bill has been unanimously
voted out of committee. Senator Isakson (R-GA): offered an amendment to ensure
parents and guardian rights to opt out of testing if desired. He argued that parental
rights must be paramount. Ranking Member Sen. Patty Murray (D) (and co-author
of the ECAA) thanked Isakson for his amendment and agreed that parents and
guardians rights must be upheld. The amendment passed with a voice vote.
<http://wpllc.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/HELP-markup-ECAA-day-11.pdf&gt;>

Teachers appreciate the bills protection for their schools A.Y.P. and their
component V measure by removing the requirement to average in a 0 score for each
test a student is opted out of. It is not fair to burden a teacher with that sort of
punishment when it is a parental decision. The Delaware PTA fully supports this and is

in complete agreement that teachers and schools should not be punished for their
decision regarding what is best for their child.
A parents choice to decide whether or not their child will participate in highstakes standardized testing should be afforded without fear of intimidation or
retribution. The Delaware PTA looks forward to your passage of House Bill 50 as
amended and requests your support for the parents, teachers and the children of
Delaware.
Respectfully,
Laura Howard
Delaware PTA VIP Member