Another school year is underway, yet students across Florida are still waiting on the results of last year’s Florida Standard Assessments. That’s one of the reasons Seminole County school leaders are pushing to get rid of the FSA, and use other tests like the SAT and the Iowa Assessment.

When the Seminole County superintendent explained the “Seminole Solution” to the Seminole County Commission Tuesday, commissioners said they fully support the idea.

The commissioners are now going to urge legislators and the State Department of Education to consider making changes to testing.

“They feel they can do it a better way, we believe in them. So therefore we’re going to go, send a letter to the state legislature saying re-evaluate this, because we think it’s just too much,” said Seminole County District 3 Commissioner Lee Constantine.

“I think that’s not fair to our families that have students in the school system, that we can’t even get the results before that year ended and the next year begins,” said Seminole County Commission Chair Brenda Carey.

In July, Florida’s Secretary of Education rejected the “Seminole Solution,” saying it would go against the law to not administer the FSA.  But Senator Don Gaetz, who chairs the Education Appropriations Committee in Tallahasee and represents several counties in Florida’s panhandle, said he’s working on legislation that would change Florida’s testing laws.

“So we can find the right kind of measurement of how students are doing so we can adjust what we teach, and make sure we don’t aggravate the dickens out of students by making them take tests again and again,” said Gaetz.

Seminole County school administrators are urging teachers to prepare students for the FSA again this year.  But they’re hoping that won’t be the test students will have to take.

“I think right now what we’ve done is created a means for people to have a discussion, and we’re providing information for anyone that asks.  And there has been some legislative interest,” said Seminole County School Superintendent Walt Griffin.

Seminole County School Board members said school leaders in several counties across the state support the “Seminole Solution,” including Lake County.

School leaders in Orange County, however, rejected the “Seminole Solution” earlier this month.