The battle over testing requirements rages on in North Carolina. In a previous issue, we reported on proposed legislation which would exempt out-of-state teachers from the state's subject matter testing requirements (the state's cut scores are some of the highest in the country). The State House has since passed the bill--by a unanimous vote--and now it's making its way to the Senate.

But Governor Mike Easley (R) and State Board of Education chairman Howard Lee are persisting in their vocal opposition to the bill. Reportedly, the State Board is working on ways to confirm these teachers' qualifications by other means, but it's not at all clear what exactly those might be. Given that until a few years ago less than half of all states had any subject matter testing, this bill is a clear throwback to pre-NCLB thinking.

In fact, the legislature's proposed solution to North Carolina's alleged crisis is wholly off-target: shortages of math, science, and special ed teachers call for targeted incentives and expansion of alternate routes to licensure, not an across-the-board lowering of standards. North Carolina's legislators would really be earning their pay if they had the gumption to reform policies, rather than abandoning them. Why not do something to draw talented liberal arts grads and idealistic career-switchers into the profession?

Perhaps Lee has the nerve: he told one reporter, "We've got to be creative. You've got to do something to get people to give up other career paths and come into the classroom."