Bill would boost testing security

Friday, Feb. 23, 2001 | 11:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A bill has been introduced in the Assembly to tighten security in the handling of tests in school districts after reports some examinations disappeared and students were given access to some of the questions.

Assembly Bill 214, sponsored Thursday by the Assembly Education Committee, requires both the state and local districts to set procedures for safeguarding these examinations. It gives the state Department of Education and the districts the power to subpoena people and records in their investigations to find out why tests are missing.

And it protects school officials who report irregularities from retaliatory actions.

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, headed an interim legislative education committee that looked into the problem. The committee subpoenaed the records of the Clark County School District.

"We were told in 1997 they were investigating 11 cases and they still hadn't gotten any results," said Williams, who is speaker pro-tem of the Assembly and chairman of the Education Committee. "We found out a lot of investigations were done in handwriting. None of the information from the attorney general's office was included in their (the school district's) files. They disregarded those altogether.

"Our staff termed the investigation very sloppy, incomplete, untimely and with no direction."

Williams said he hopes this legislation will reverse the situation.

He noted now there are more "high-stakes" tests that students need to pass to graduate from high school or to move up a grade in some cases.

"When you have high-stakes tests, you find more cheating in most states," Williams said. "You know I have one of those test booklets in my possession. A teacher gave it to me. I have had it for a year now."

He said he has had a lot of teachers contact him with information but "were afraid to come forward." The whistleblower protection in the bill will help remedy that situation, he said.

The bill says, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of this state that a school official is encouraged to disclose, to the extent not expressly prohibited by law, irregularities in testing administration and testing security, and it is the intent of the Legislature to protect the rights of a school official who makes such a disclosure."

The measure provides that the state Board of Education can hear an appeal from a school official who feels he has been the victim of retaliation for disclosing irregularities in the testing procedure.

The board could subpoena witnesses under the bill, and if they refuse to appear, the board could petition a District Court to force the witness to show up. A judge could issue a contempt of court citation to a person who refuses to obey the order.

The state board, after hearing the appeal, could issue an order directing the individual to stop engaging in such reprisals.

The bill also says a person who willfully discloses untruthful information regarding lapses of security is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Williams said his education committee will hold hearings on the bill and will call in officials from the school districts.