The Texas attorney general says parents suing to get the state to toss out student test scores lack standing and should have taken their complaints to the Texas Education Agency rather than a court.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office filed the response in Travis County District Court Monday, denying “each and every allegation” from parents who allege in a lawsuit that the TEA ignored state law that requires standardized tests for elementary and middle schoolers be short enough for students to finish is a specific period of time.
The Texas Education Agency and the attorney general are asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the parents lack standing, failed to exhaust administrative remedies and failed to state a “legally cognizable claim.”
“I am shocked and saddened that the TEA refuses to recognize my right to have a judge listen to my complaint, especially when the agency broke the law and is irreversibly damaging our schools in the process,” said Jennifer Rumsey, a parent and teacher who is one of four plaintiffs.”They have already treated our children and our teachers with great disrespect, and the thought that I should continue to trust them to resolve my issues is insulting.”
See here for the background. The STAAR test had its share of problems this year. It feels to me like the state is trying to downplay and excuse these problems rather than face up to them. I’m rooting for the parents to win this one. The Press has more.