My oldest son graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.  Now he's at Duke University.  He  gained acceptance at many other top universities and I attribute his success to this magnificent high school (considered as the best in the US according to many references)  

 At one point their was discussion of increasing "diversity" at Thomas Jefferson.  The truth is that this school has had a totally blind admissions policy for many years and the students were admitted because they have superior academic skills and abstract reasoning ability.    Ironically, over 40% of the students at TJ are minorities, just not the right kind of minorites.  Most are Asians rather than blacks and hispanic. 

The school attempted to social engineer the racial make-up of this exceptional group of students and the plan failed.  Please do not make the same mistake now by eliminating the achievement tests and the intervention and review of the State Board.  We need more resources devoted to the future leaders of America.  The smartest and fittest minds will ultimately determine the future of America and the future of the world!

I must also mention that 4 out of 5 of my children have attended Center Based Gifted programs.  Of the four, the younger three were each disqualified by the aptitude tests.  Their achievement scores were terrific but the aptitude tests, which I later learned include subjective teacher reviews, weren't quite high enough.  So I appealed and subsequently each child was given a standard intelligence test (IQ,) administered by a psychologist.   Their resulting scores werew extremely high.  They were subsequently admitted to the programs and have done extremely well since.

Keep the home school teachers' opinions out of the equation.  Why would a school want to lose it's best and brightest students?  Especially since their performance as teachers is based on SOL averages.