Time's up! Class of 2006 faces exit exam

But Lear says that bill, which got stuck in the House last year, didn't get at the heart of some of the problems.

Her office wants narrow exceptions for students with real testing phobias, for example, and a limited appeals process for family tragedies, student hospitalizations and the like. It's writing up details to help persuade Ray or any other legislator who's interested to push them on the Hill.

Some might welcome changes in the law. But if changes don't affect you, and end up setting a different standard for students who graduate after you, they could cause legal problems, warns the dad whose daughter is struggling.

"I predict that this UBSCT as it presently is will die in a couple, three years. It will die because they will see it as an unsuccessful thing. But there will be people who will be lost," he said. "It's like formulating a drug that killed people. Is it OK to say 'sorry,' or should there be a price tag involved?

"You don't play with people's lives."

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Contributing: Tiffany Erickson

E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com