SAN ANTONIO -- Teachers celebrated the first day of school knowing that they will be getting the chance to spend more time with their students and less time on standardized tests.

Legislation passed in the recent legislative session will give parents and school staff the power to determine how many days are spent preparing for standardized tests. State Rep. Mike Villarreal said it gets away from the “drill and kill” mentality of spending a long number of days on tests.

“Teachers desperately want that instructional time back,” said Hawthorne Academy’s Jennifer Carsten. “They understand the mandates behind (state testing), but they also know that the classroom time they can use to teach children is absolutely invaluable.”

According to the legislation, districts are limited to a maximum of 10 percent of its instructional days being used on test preparations.