The Bend-La-Pine School Board has it backwards. Rather than working to persuade lawmakers to dump the Smarter Balanced standardized tests the state has chosen for students in grades three through eight and 11, the school board should spend time persuading parents that the tests really are worthwhile.

The school board decided Monday to focus on persuading the state to adopt the ACT test, which is already given free of charge in Bend-La Pine. The district picks up the $60-plus fee for members of the junior class who take the exam.

The Oregon Department of Education recommitted to Smarter Balanced in mid-July. That despite a governor and Legislature who’ve done everything to diminish the tests short of ripping them from students’ hands.

Thus, they’ve been complicit in the campaign against Smarter Balanced, not only allowing parents to opt their children out of the exams easily but requiring school districts to inform parents of that option.

Despite the bad rap, Smarter Balanced tests really are a good deal, as ODE officials discovered in researching it and other tests for a year:

• Neither ACT nor SAT cover the subjects and skills Oregon says its students must have to succeed as well as Smarter Balanced does.

• Nor do ACT and SAT match Smarter Balanced’s accommodations for students with disabilities, who are not native English speakers or who have other special needs.

• Smarter Balanced also has far fewer restrictions on when tests can be given than do the other two.

• And, there’s money. Both ACT and SAT are more expensive than Smarter Balanced, and Oregon schools are not exactly rolling in dough.

When the experts, from teachers to school boards to the governor and lawmakers, say the Smarter Balanced exams are bad, it’s no wonder parents are so willing to let kids skip the tests.

The standardized state tests allows parents and policymakers to see which schools do a good job of teaching kids and which do not. That can be why teachers and other educators don’t like it.

The Bend-La Pine School Board should recognize the value of the tests the state requires and work to encourage students to take those tests, rather than spend both time and money to defeat them.