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24% of Lansing students, including nearly half the seventh grade class, refused to take state ELA (English Language Arts) tests this school year.  Most of those opting to skip the tests were in the middle school with nearly half of Lansing's seventh graders refusing to take the test.  But Superintendent Chris Pettograsso assured school board members that even if the district's federal funding is partially withheld it will not have a significant impact on Lansing's school budget.

"It's about $100,000, specifically in Title 1 funds," she explained.  "As far as Lansing in particular, we will be the least affected.  The schools that it is going to be hitting and hurting are high poverty schools that are mostly funded by Federal monies and have UPK (Universal PreKindergarten) programs and such.  I don't believe at this point, at least, it will impact us.  But we know that can change at any time."

Because the State received a Federal grant that included implement state testing, federal aid to schools is tied to a 95% participation rate.  That figure represents a three year average.  Pettograsso said that this year's low numbers bring down the three year average below the 95% requirement.

Pettograsso presented statistics on grades three through eight that show only 14%, 25 out of 179, of elementary school students refused the tests, while 30%, 102 of 344, refused in the middle school.  35 of 71 seventh graders (49%) refused the test.  The highest participation rate was in third and fourth grades, both with 86% participation.  She said that state math tests were still being administered, so she didn't have final figures on participation on that test.


The backlash against the state regulated common core curriculum and tests has been growing.  Last year 60,000 New York students out of 1.1 million refused the test statewide.  Growing opposition to forcing districts to spend their teaching time on passing the tests, rather than the actual subject matter and tying the results to teacher evaluations has caused a swell in test refusals.  On April 20th, Congressman Tom Reed announced he will propose legislation that would give parents the right to opt their children out of Common Core testing without any negative repercussions on teachers or funding for their local school district.

"Parents should play an active role in determining what standardized tests their children take," Reed said.  "Tens of thousands of parents have already opted their children out of required public school testing, a protest against Common Core curriculum and the philosophy of 'teaching to the test.' This action has sent a clear message to lawmakers: parents should decide what is in their child's best interest, not bureaucrats in Albany or Washington."

Pettograsso said that Lansing won't suffer much even if Federal funding is withheld.  She noted that Lansing's Federal funding amounts to only 0.07% of the district's budget.  She added that it is not even certain that Lansing will be penalized.

"Nobody has come out and said you will lose funding," she said.  "It's a maybe.  They may say for future grants you have to show a 95% participation rate.  That might be an area that startes to affect us.  They may say if you have a UPK program it may affect us."

She did express concern that the LAP plan (Local Assistance Plan) in the middle school could be at risk.

"For that you had to have a 95% participation rate this year to show improvement," she cautioned.  "The LAP Plan may go away.  If the students in a specific population fare well it might just be a LAP plan for participation, so we would have to use some of our Title 1 money to encourage students to not refuse the tests."

Pettograsso also noted that the phrase 'opt-out' is not an actual option that is offered by the State Education Department.

"It's really just test refusal," she said.  "It's refusing to take this part of the New York State public education curriculum.  In all my interactions I always put quotation marks around it, and that's why.  I'm using a phrase that exists in the community and people understand, but it's not an accurate phrase."

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