The Arizona Department of Education is asking for $15 million from the general fund in the next fiscal year to pay for the achievement test for the state’s new learning standards, according to a request submitted to the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budget on Sept. 24.

That amount is part of $46.5 million in new spending requests for fiscal year 2014-15 to cover costs that include beefing up the department’s data system, paying for testing for students in English immersion, offsetting block grants, and hiring more employees.

The request for the achievement test is likely to draw the attention of lawmakers since the yet-to-be determined test will measure students for the first time under the standards formerly known as Common Core, which have become a political lightening rod nationwide and in Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer on Sept. 20 renamed Common Core, calling it Arizona College and Career Ready Standards in an effort to distance the state from Common Core’s association with the Obama Administration.

“There’s going to be a lot of debate and a lot of discussion about this,” said Sen. Chester Crandell, R-Heber, a critic of Common Core and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC.

PARCC is a consortium of 18 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math.

Tim Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, said the Legislature has consistently implemented higher standards in recent years and now is the time to pay for them.

“We do have to have a viable assessment system,” Ogle said.

The Arizona Department of Education prefers PARCC because the state had a hand in developing it, but any new test will have to go through the procurement process. The state Board of Education is working on a request for information from potential vendors.

The board adopted Common Core in 2010 and all public schools have for the most part fully implemented the standards. Testing on them will begin in 2015.

The $15 million would be on top of the $10.2 million the state already pays for the AIMS test. In all, the AIMS cost in fiscal year 2014 is $14.5 million, with the remainder of the money coming from the federal government.

PARCC announced in July the test will cost $29.50 per student. Arizona paid $18 to $20 per student depending on the grade to give AIMS to 750,000 students in the 2012-13 fiscal year.