The Florida education department and six school districts asked a federal judge last week to take over a lawsuit that challenges the state law preventing some students from being promoted to the 4th grade.
The move came after Circuit Judge Karen Gievers said she was troubled by the suit, which contends children were held back because they refused to take the state’s high-stakes standardized test.
Lawyers for the department maintained the case belongs in federal court because the parents allege their equal-protection rights were violated.
