It was a safe bet that the state Board of Education would blink when it came to requiring a passing score next year on the high school exit exam in order to receive a diploma. So, it's hardly surprising to hear board President Reed Hastings suggest the test be postponed as a graduation requirement until, say, 2006.

By then, most of the current board members will have completed their terms and be engaged in much less contentious issues. And a new board can conjure up ways to avoid holding schools to the standards of public accountability we keep hearing about.

The high school exit exam has been through a tortuous path since its birth four years ago. Hailed as a motivator for high school students, the test was meant to ensure that graduates, beginning with the class of 2004, possess certain basic skills before being granted diplomas.

Gary Hart, a highly respected former lawmaker and former education secretary, put it well. The test, he said, would "focus the attention of these students where it should be – on academic achievement, not just getting by." Hart, who has returned to teaching high school, understands adolescents. He knows that most students are pragmatic and will rise to the scholastic level that is expected of them.

The key is expecting far more of students than just seat time over the course of their high school years. Sadly, far too many schools settle for students simply putting in their time. Which helps explain why just 62 percent of the class of 2004 have passed the math portion of the exam, and why a recent study predicted that 20 percent of the class ultimately could be denied diplomas, based on their test results.

Schools with a rigorous academic curriculum and high expectations have nothing to fear from the exit exam. The test, after all, is pegged at about the 10th-grade level in reading and writing, and between sixth-and seventh-grade levels in math. Even so, critics contend the exam is too difficult for students who are still learning English, and for the economically disadvantaged.

The California Teachers Association, which initially supported the exam, wants to allow schools to opt out of the test. A bill to permit this, carried by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, is before the Appropriations Committee.

Fearing a large parental backlash, not to mention a flurry of lawsuits if thousands of students are denied diplomas, the state school board is looking for an escape hatch. Several options have been suggested by an independent research group that just evaluated the exam. Its recommendations include lowering the passing score, dumbing down the test or permitting students to pass even if they fail one portion of the exam.

None of these solutions makes sense. Better to stick with the test, but defer the consequences to a later date.