Bill grants grad rights

Proposed legislation would allow disabled students to graduate even if they fail high school exit exam.Special-education students in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District could graduate this year without passing the California high school exit exam, pending approval of a state Senate bill introduced Thursday.

The bill, submitted by Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, would allow disabled students throughout the state to receive diplomas if they passed all of their classes and took the exit exam at least twice. While the bill has yet to go through the legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement Thursday declaring support for the proposal.

“Today we have moved one step closer to reaching resolution on a matter that affects many of California’s special education students,” the statement read.

In Newport-Mesa, where 62 special-needs students have yet to pass the exit exam, administrators greeted the news with relief and enthusiasm.

“I didn’t expect this,” said Fred Navarro, director of secondary education. “I thought we were going to continue in the direction we were going and nobody was going to get an exemption.”

The proposal, he added, was tough but fair, since it required special-needs students to excel in other areas.

“If you look at the specifics, I think it outlines the fact that you’ve tried everything you can to help the student pass the ... [exit exam], so no one’s getting a free ride out of this,” Navarro said. “If the school district didn’t do everything within its power to pass the student, they wouldn’t make it.”

Newport-Mesa assessment director Peggy Anatol called the proposed legislation “a very positive thing,” noting that passing the exit exam was simply beyond some students’ capabilities.

“Many of our severely handicapped students can’t even hold a pencil,” she said.

This year marks the first time that seniors must pass the exit exam to graduate from high school -- a requirement that some have found too stringent, noting the difficulties that disabled students, English-learners and others face taking the test.

Last year, Romero sponsored another Senate bill that would have delayed the exit exam requirement for two years for special-needs students.

The bill came in response to a legal settlement between the state Department of Education and the Oakland-based group Disability Rights Advocates, which ruled that special-needs students could graduate without passing the exam.

However, Schwarzenegger and state public instruction Supt. Jack O’Connell denounced the earlier bill, since it departed from the terms of the settlement by giving students a two-year reprieve. Schwarzenegger vetoed the proposal in October, saying that it would send the wrong message to special-needs students who were capable of passing the test.

The current bill, if passed, will exempt special-needs students from passing the exit exam for one year. Afterward, education leaders would evaluate the program’s success and proceed from there.

“While I believe that ... [the bill] is an appropriate response to a very significant problem, it by no means is entirely the answer,” Romero said. “We most likely will be visited by this issue again.”