Last Friday, the state Department of Education and attorneys representing special-education students came to a legal settlement that would require special-education students to pass the California High School Exit Exam to graduate in 2008. These students should instead be exempt from passing the exam.
For the past two years these students have been exempt.
If there are students who do not face disabilities but still fail to pass the exit exam, it seems bizarre that the state could expect special-education students to pass the same test.
While there are special-education students who should be applauded for working hard and overcoming their disabilities to pass the exam and receive a high school diploma, Californians must not make this an expectation of students facing significant disabilities.
Sen. Gloria Romero should also be recognized for authoring two bills exempting students with disabilities from having to pass the test in 2006 and 2007.
She estimates that 40,000 students with disabilities will be prevented from graduating this year because of the exam.
By making it even more difficult for tens of thousands of students to graduate from high school, the state is not only preventing them from being productive members of society by prolonging their high school tenure ““ it is also making employment even more difficult to obtain by moving a high school diploma further from their grasp.