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Committee advances bill replacing naturalization-based civics test with state-developed assessment for graduation
Summary
House Bill 397 would require a state-developed civics assessment aligned to Idaho standards as a graduation requirement; the House Education Committee voted to advance the bill to the floor after discussion about implementation, timing and the meaning of "successful completion."
Representative Wisniewski (State Representative) told the House Education Committee on March 13 that House Bill 397 would move civics and history graduation requirements into statute and replace the existing naturalization-style civics assessment with a state-developed test aligned to Idaho's government standards.
Wisniewski said the bill would tie the new assessment to a curriculum emphasis on Western political traditions, including Greek democracy, Roman republicanism and English common-law foundations, but would not make the requirements effective immediately: "We're not gonna make these requirements effective this coming school year," he told the committee.
Greg Wilson, chief of staff at the State Department of Education, described the change as an update to an existing civics requirement and said the department will develop the new test with subject-matter experts and seek State Board of Education approval. "This replaces the existing civics test... with a stand-alone civics test that will be developed by the state department of education, approved by the state board of education, and then aligns with the components that are aligned with our existing US history standards," Wilson said.
Teachers and stakeholders testified. Samuel Loehr of the Idaho Freedom Foundation and the Association of Scholars supported the bill as a way to address perceived civic illiteracy. Corinne Rue, a high-school government teacher who appeared with students, said she supports strong civic education but expressed implementation concerns: the bill’s language refers to "successful completion" of an assessment and does not specify whether districts must require a passing score or merely completion. Rue also noted variation across districts in when topics are taught and asked how the assessment would accommodate students who learn some material later in the year.
Representative Mathias offered a substitute motion to change the bill’s phrase "successful completion" to "passage," to make clear a proficiency threshold would be required. That substitute failed on a procedural vote. Committee members then voted on the original motion to send HB 397 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; the roll call showed unanimous committee support, and the motion carried 14–0.
The State Department indicated it would set proficiency cut scores with board approval and that reassessment opportunities would remain available for students who do not meet the proficiency threshold. The bill also states that applicability to pupils receiving special education services is governed by the pupil’s individualized education program (IEP).
The committee advanced the bill to the House floor; sponsors and the department will need to finalize test construction details, reassessment policy, accommodations language and implementation timelines in follow-up work and rulemaking.
