State senators voted Tuesday to extend the ability of high school seniors to use their grades to supplement their AIMS scores and graduate with their classmates. HB2008 would continue the practice where students who have failed one or more parts of the test can boost their scores by up to 25 percent.

The emergency measure still needs final House approval before going to Gov. Janet Napolitano today, just in time to help up to 6,000 seniors who otherwise will not graduate this month.

Tuesday’s move continues the state policy of requiring students to pass AIMS — with or without bonus points — before they get a high school diploma.

But lawmakers balked at an alternate proposal to make passing other versions of the AIMS test given in grades three through eight a prerequisite to being promoted to the next grade.

Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, said that would end “social promotion” and ensure that teens do not get to their senior year unable to pass the graduation version of the test.

The test, more formally known as Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards, has been given to seniors for more than a decade.

But it was not until 2006 that getting a passing score became a requirement to graduate.

Facing complaints from students and parents, lawmakers agreed to a temporary reprieve by allowing bonus points, but only through the end of 2007.

Rep. David Schapira, D-Tempe, had sought to put the bonus points back permanently.

But facing opposition, he agreed to a compromise.

Under the terms of the deal, that 25 percent bonus will apply to this year’s seniors and those scheduled to graduate in 2009.

But the measure caps maximum bonus points at 15 percent of AIMS scores for the class of 2010 — and just 5 percent for those in the class of 2011 and beyond.

Schapira said he believes that 5 percent margin should be enough to help most students who find their AIMS scores short of what is considered passing.

Even that, however, proved too much for some lawmakers.

Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, who owns a restaurant and wine bar, said he gets applicants who are high school graduates and are unable to string an entire sentence together

“A diploma should mean something,” he said. “At some point we need to expect more from our students, and our schools.”

All AIMS does, he said, is ensure that “when our students graduate they have minimal skills.”

Gould suggested there would not be a problem with seniors passing AIMS if they were being properly educated throughout school.

He said the AIMS tests in grades three through eight are supposed to show if students have mastered the subjects being taught. But he said failing any part of the test has no implications for the students.

“How we’re doing this now is dumb,” Gould said. “It is not until they are ready to graduate when actually passing that last AIMS test matters.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne called Tuesday’s vote to extend the bonus points a “mistake.”

“The reason an objective test is needed is because subjective grades are unreliable indicators of whether students have learned what they need to know,” he said. “If all teachers were tough graders we wouldn’t need a statewide test.”