Teacher unions, lawmakers and parents say they were blindsided by the changes they fear could punish students who give creative or atypical answers computers don’t recognize. STAAR test results are particularly sensitive because they are used to determine the state’s A-F ratings for public schools. If a campus receives five consecutive failing grades from the state, the entire school district could be placed under a state conservatorship or ultimately taken over, as in the case of Houston ISD.

“If it’s important enough for our students to write on the test and if it’s important enough for our teachers to teach children how to write, it should be important enough for TEA to hire human graders to grade the test,” said Jackie Anderson, president of HISD’s largest teachers’ union. “We can’t use AI to write it so why should they use AI to grade it?”