The Virginia Assocation of School Superintendents is in support of HB 189 and HB 1410.

Maria is a seventh grader who works twice as hard as most of her classmates. She has a learning disability, an IEP, supportive teachers, and parents who insist she be held to the same standards as her peers, with the right supports. Maria studies for her tests because they count. When she earns a grade, it means something. When she struggles, adults respond. Now imagine telling Maria that her test no longer really matters. That is what HB 1410 does. The bill exempts certain students with disabilities in grades seven through twelve from long-standing assessment rules. Their assessments would no longer need to count for at least 10 percent of their final grade, and they could be administered on a different schedule. That sounds minor. It is not. That 10 percent is the difference between an assessment that drives instruction and one that gets ignored. It is the difference between accountability and paperwork. HB 1410 does not improve assessments, expand accommodations, or strengthen instruction. It simply removes the requirement that learning be measured in a way that counts. When something stops counting, attention fades. Grades lose meaning. Parents lose clarity. Counselors and colleges lose reliable signals. Most damaging, students absorb the message that less is expected of them. This is not inclusion. Inclusion means access to rigor, not exemption from it. HB 1410 does not solve a problem. It avoids one. If assessments are flawed, fix them. If supports are lacking, strengthen them. But lowering accountability is not compassion. Maria does not need her work to count less. She needs it to count honestly. That is why HB1410 deserves serious concern.