State School Superintendent Woods Supports Grad Test Bill

New State School Superintendent Richard Woods is publicly supporting a new State House Bill that would eliminate the high school graduation test requirement for all students past and present.

House Bill 91 was submitted Monday by State Representative Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth) of the 97th District.
Under the bill, students who failed the graduation test in the past will now be allowed to get their diploma without having to apply for a waiver.

Those students had to apply for a waiver from the State Board of Education, which would allow them to go on to a post-secondary education.

“I am fully supportive of HB 91 because it puts all of our students on the same playing field,” Woods said Tuesday. “We no longer require the Georgia High School Graduation Test for our students, yet we are not allowing students from previous years to graduate because they have not passed the graduation test. If we are not requiring it for our current students then we should not penalize students in the past who met all graduation requirements except for passing this one test.”

“This law would eliminate the cumbersome process students go through to apply for a waiver from the State Board of Education, and it would allow more students the opportunity to obtain a high school diploma and go on to some form of post-secondary education, where they can get skills needed to have a great quality of life and be contributors to our society, Woods concluded.”