High school students looking to graduate likely will face one less worry: The Utah Basic Skills Competency Test.

Lawmakers approved HB166, which would suspend UBSCT for two years, meaning students now in grades eight through 11 wouldn't have to take it before graduation.

The bill would also eliminate Criterion Referenced Tests (CRTs), the state's main achievement test, for second-graders.

Bill sponsor Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, has said suspending UBSCT for two years would give the state a chance to study its usefulness.

"The UBSCT is not an effective accountability metric," Dougall said. "It's an eighth-grade test we give to 10th-graders to determine if they should finish and graduate from 12th grade. I see no value to the UBSCT test."

Now, students take the test starting in 10th grade and can take it multiple times after that if they don't pass. Students who pass the test earn regular high school diplomas. Students who don't pass but complete all their other graduation requirements receive diplomas that note they didn't pass the test.

Some lawmakers worried about taking too much accountability out of the school system by suspending UBSCT, but ultimately, both chambers passed the bill with overwhelming support.

Education leaders have been aiming to move away from UBSCT for some time on recommendations from the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Assessment.

Some senators had hoped to use money saved from not giving UBSCT to help restore funding to some other education programs facing cuts this year. But the bill ultimately would put the money saved instead toward implementing a pilot testing program similar to the one some school districts already use. As part of that optional pilot program, districts would give computer-adaptive tests, which adapt in difficulty as students take them, and the ACT instead of the UBSCT.

Dougall said lawmakers and state education leaders also agree that second grade it too young to give CRTs, which the vast majority of students in Utah take each spring.

The bill now moves to the governor for his signature.