Florida court rejects opt-out testing arguments

TALLAHASSEE — In a sharply worded opinion, an appeals court Tuesday overturned a Leon County judge's 2016 decision that seemed to support the "opt-out" movement that encourages parents to defy standardized testing requirements.

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that Circuit Judge Karen Gievers erred on procedural grounds by allowing the case to go forward and with portions of her opinion that could have allowed some students to avoid answering questions on state exams.

Perhaps most significantly, the court ruled that the state has an interest in making sure that students do not "minimally participate" in standardized tests. Parents who brought the case against the Department of Education and several school boards told their third-grade students to put their names on the test, then refuse to answer questions.

When the students were barred from moving to fourth grade under state law, the parents sued, saying they wanted their children to be evaluated using a portfolio allowed in the case of "good cause exemptions."

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