"Admissions offices increasingly recognize that test requirements, given their negative disparate impact on Black and Latinx applicants, are 'race-conscious' factors, which can create unfair barriers to access higher education," said FairTest Executive Harry Feder. "They also know that standardized exams are, at best, weak predictors of academic success and largely unrelated to college-ready skills and knowledge."

"We're not seeing people come back into the workforce fast enough as they are in other sectors to recover some of those jobs," notes Jim McCoy, senior vice president of talent solutions for ManpowerGroup.

The law has frustrated school boards, educators and families across the state for years. It passed in 2004, driven by the tourism industry’s desire for a uniform summer vacation season.