The Colorado State Board of Education does not have authority to give school districts waivers from state-mandated tests, according to the Colorado attorney general.
The formal opinion was signed last week and sent to the Colorado Department of Education on Tuesday afternoon.
“The Department alone is authorized to administer assessments that are mandated by state law,” Attorney General Cynthia Coffman wrote in her decision. “Nowhere in state statue is the SBOE authorized to instruct the Department how to administer statewide assessments, how the assessments are to be issued, graded or handled.”
The Colorado State Board of Education this spring.
Steve Durham, a former Republican lobbyist from El Paso County appointed to fill a board vacancy, introduced the motion saying two portions of the tests sound repetitive and could be unnecessary.
Commissioner Robert Hammond said from the beginning that it was unclear that the board had authority to do so.
Allowing school districts to forego administering portions of the test would mean the state is failing to meet state and federal requirements, the attorney general’s decision stated.
Hammond urged districts to wait, but even so, 12 school districts already have requested a waiver, including Jefferson County Public Schools.
The board is scheduled to consider those waivers at a meeting next week.
