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Gov. Jerry Brown
The California state Senate voted 37 to 0 yesterday to approve SB-725, which exempts 2015 seniors from passing the California High School Exit Exam, allowing them to receive their diplomas immediately.
The state Assembly passed the bill last week, 77 to 1.
The bill now goes to Governor Jerry Brown to sign into law. Because it carries an urgency measure, it would take effect immediately should the governor sign it.
The law corrects a problem created in May when the California Department of Education suspended the exam to save money, because the test itself was being phased out.
However, that left more than 5,000 seniors statewide who had planned to take the test in July unable to graduate. Of those, 492 were in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The exam was introduced in 2006 to assess whether students had grade-level competency in the state content standards for reading, writing and math. Students first took the exam in their sophomore year of high school. To graduate, they were required to pass the test by the end of their senior year.
In 2013, 95.5 percent of California passed the test by the end of their senior year.