Photo by Jacob Perryman Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry President and CEO Jim Decker presents on the proposed Warren Worx program at Wednesday’s meeting of the Warren County Intergovernmental Co-op.

A proposal currently circulating in the state General Assembly to end PSSA testing and rely on locally-based benchmarks isn’t the first of its kind.

“We see a lot of proposals from legislators,” Warren County School District Superintendent Amy Stewart said. “We will have to see if this has any traction.”

The legislation, proposed by state Reps. Eric Nelson and Martina White, would replace the current Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests administered in grades three through eight in English/language arts and math and in grades four and eight in science with local benchmark testing administered three times per school year.

PSSA testing began in its current form in 1992 with English language arts and math tests given to third- through eighth-graders while fourth- and eighth-graders are tested in science. The tests, according to House Reps. Eric Nelson and Martina White, cost the state $48 million a year. Nelson and White propose allowing school districts to use three benchmark assessments during a child’s school year, with aggregate data from schools and districts still made available publicly. Many schools already use local testing in addition to the PSSA testing so they have testing data available to help determine a student’s aptitude while the child is still in a teacher’s class.

Nelson and White said another reason to change is a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decision earlier this year that will result in more money being spent in schools. The plaintiffs originally sued in 2014, arguing that Pennsylvania’s system of paying for public schools is failing the poorest districts and contending that billions more dollars in state aid are necessary to meet the state’s constitutional obligation. While the judge agreed, she also did not direct Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature on how much more state aid to distribute, or how.

Whether this proposal gains ground or not, Stewart said the district will be watching.

“I get daily updates on things being discussed when the legislators are in session,” she said. “We will have to wait and see where this one goes.”