A computer server issue on the server that runs FCAT testing in Florida forced several counties to suspend testing ▼ Tuesday.

The Florida Department of Education said the Pearson server was having difficulty with a hosting provider. Officials said the issue did not seem to be statewide.

Orange, Seminole and Lake school districts said there will be FCAT testing Wednesday. During a conference call Tuesday, the state said the company behind the test said everything would be ready Wednesday to resume testing.

Gov. Rick Scott called the outage "unacceptable," and said teachers and state education officials were working to make sure the testing server was back online without issue as quickly as possible.

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School districts impacted

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  • Computer testing suspended Tuesday:
    • Hardee
    • Hernando
    • Orange
    • Pasco
    • Polk
    • Seminole
  • Some, but not all schools impacted:
    • Brevard
    • Highlands
    • Lake
    • Marion
    • Pinellas
    • Sarasota
    • Volusia
  • No schools affected:
    • Citrus
    • Flagler
    • Hillsborough
    • Manatee
    • Osceola
  • Awaiting confirmation:
    • Sumter

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"We have suspended computer-based FCAT testing because of issues signing on (to the site)," said Pasco Schools Director of Communications Linda Cobbe. "This brings into question whether the state and districts are ready for computer-based testing."

Today's problem makes the district nervous about results.

"We have questions about whether the exam results for these students are going to be reliable,” Cobbe said. “So when the results come in we are going to be looking at the individual students to compare not only how they performed in the past, but how their cohort performed this year."

Orange County Public Schools said about 12,000 students in the county were impacted by the outage and unable to take the FCAT on Tuesday.

Testing has also been suspended at several schools in Marion.

Citrus, Highlands, Lake, Pinellas and Sarasota County schools report issues. It is not yet known if these counties have suspended testing.

Volusia County wasn't significantly impacted by Pearson's servers, and students were able to complete their testing as planned, according to Nancy Wait, of Volusia County Schools.

Meanwhile, Brevard, Flagler, Hillsborough, Manatee and Osceola school districts said they are not affected.

We have calls out to Sumter districts and have yet to hear back.

Districts experiencing difficulty with live testing have been instructed to suspend testing and wait to hear from state education officials.

Orange County said they got the go-ahead to resume testing Wednesday.

State education officials said they will work with districts that are experiencing issues to make sure students have time to complete the tests.

Pam Stewart, commissioner of education, sent a letter to Pearson on Tuesday regarding the issue:

"Today, issues with Pearson's test delivery and management system created significant problems with the administration of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and Florida End-of-Course Assessments. The language posted on Pearson's website acknowledges this degradation in service, but also minimizes its impact as merely "frustrating," while students and educators have experienced real issues for which we have yet to receive a solution. I instructed districts to suspend live testing as long as these issues impeded students from freely navigating the testing environment or presented risk of interruption.

"This failure is inexcusable. Florida's students and teachers work too hard on learning to be distracted by these needless and avoidable technological issues. I expect a resolution and an explanation for this immediately. I also intend to pursue all liquidated damages and other remedies that may be available as a result of Pearson's failure to fulfill its duty under the contract with the department."  

This is a developing story. Check back and refresh this article for the latest updates.