LANSING, MI (AP)-- Michigan is paying $4.9 million this school year to continue its membership in a group that develops standardized tests aligned with national Common Core education standards.
Lawmakers last year rejected a plan to administer the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium's tests to third- to eighth-graders and students in the 11th grade.
State Education Department spokesman Bill DiSessa says paying the fee allows Michigan to include Smarter Balanced test items in the new M-STEP tests that are replacing the 44-year-old MEAP tests this spring.
A Missouri judge ruled last week that such fees are illegal because the Smarter Balanced Consortium is an "unlawful interstate compact" to which Congress never consented.
It's unclear if Michigan will pay the membership fee again next year. M-STEP is one-year stopgap until a long-term assessment is chosen.