(WSB Radio State Capitol Bureau)  A state lawmaker wants to add first and second grades to the list of those required to pass the CRCT in order to be promoted to the next grade. Currently only third, fifth, and eighth graders are required to pass it.

Rep. Rick Austin (R-Demorest), a college biology professor, says first and second graders currently take the test but aren't required to pass it to move on.

"In many cases children that have had significant hurdles to overcome are going to find themselves so far behind, that it's going to be very difficult for them to ever get their feet back up underneath them to do the work in the forthcoming years," he tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

HB 501 would also penalize schools that socially promote students who fail the test by withholding funding. He says right now schools aren't required to report how many students fail the test in the spring or in the mandatory retest . They would be required to do so under the bill as well as report how many of those students are promoted anyway

"We've got a system that we say we're going to evaluate and assess our children, and then we turn right around and over 80 percent of them we're not holding accountable," he says.

Austin is also sponsoring HB 503 called the "Teacher Access to Resources Act," that would require any textbook used by a public school in Georgia meet at least 80 percent of the competencies and curriculum requirements established by the state Board of Education. It will also require the State Board of Education to establish a comprehensive website to provide teachers access to state standards and teaching resources.