The Maryland State Department of Education has proposed to end the Government High School Assessment starting next school year.Of the four HSAs, the government exam, given to students who take National, State and Local Government,  is the only one that would be eliminated.

“No Child Left Behind does not require data from a government test,” said Maria Tarasuk, MCPS program supervisor for social studies. “It’s for this reason that they didn’t decide to cancel the biology HSA or something else.”

Social studies teachers across the state received an email announcing the plan in February, and superintendent of schools Nancy Grasmick confirmed the proposal at the February superintendents meeting. The Maryland General Assembly will vote on the decision in April, but it’s likely to pass, as the termination is part of the Governor’s budget proposal for FY 2012, according to Kevin Yates, MCPS content specialist for social studies. The change will save the state about $2 million a year, Grasmick said.

Yates said he anticipates protests and backlash regarding the termination. The decision minimizes the importance of teaching students about democracy in the state’s education system and is likely to anger civics proponents, Yates said.

In his weekly column on education for the Washington Post, Jay Matthews agreed, saying that eliminating the government HSA downgrades the importance of civics in Maryland, home to many federal employees.

The termination was a complete surprise to social studies teachers.

“This is after years and years of saying what a great test this was and how all kids should know about civics and about their government,” said Robert Mathis, a social studies resource teacher. “It really came out of nowhere.”

Although the decision is meant to save the state the cost of writing and administering the test, county officials are skeptical that eliminating the test will save a significant amount of money. The state only pays the writers of the exam $20 a question, Yates said.

But Grasmick, along with Governor Martin O’Malley, thinks the transition is necessary because of financial constraints.

“We believe strongly that our students must understand government before they graduate, which is why Maryland was among only a handful of states that had developed a statewide assessment in that subject,” Grasmick said. “But our State is faced with a major budget deficit, and all agencies were asked to do their part to make up the difference.”

Since students will still have to pass a government course in order to graduate and many Montgomery County students take the AP exam and not the HSA exam, the change is not likely to have much of an impact on MCPS students, Tarasuk said.

Still, teachers are confused as to why the government HSA in particular was singled out as the test that was dispensable enough to terminate.

“Some teachers are concerned about the loss of value for social studies now that it isn’t an assessed course,” Tarasuk said. “But many are also glad to have one less high pressure test to prepare students for.”

Students, meanwhile, are largely indifferent about the subject. Most Whitman students take AP NSL and forgo the HSA, or simply treat it as cheap insurance.

“I don’t want to take another test,” said freshman Julia Greenberg, who is taking AP NSL. “But it doesn’t really matter.”