Georgia K-12 public schools have the option not to count year-end tests toward students’ final grades this year due to schooling hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic, following a vote Monday by the state Board of Education.

State law requires scores on the annual Georgia Milestones tests to account for 20% of the cumulative grades for most of the state’s public-school students, from the third grade up to their senior year.

But this year, the Milestones scores can be counted essentially zero after State School Superintendent Richard Woods won approval for his proposal to water down the tests so students and teachers can have some relief as they continue working through tremendous challenges due to the virus.

School districts now have leeway to recalculate final course grades for the fall semester and count the tests as 0.01% if they want, a state Department of Education spokesperson confirmed. The same 0.01% weight can also apply to year-end tests in the upcoming spring 2021 semester.

Critically, each district also has the option to count the test scores higher than the 0.01% weight for students’ final grades in their local schools if they choose, the spokesperson confirmed.

Woods’ 0.01% proposal gained huge support from students, teachers, parents and school advocates across the state after U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos shot down his request in September to relax federal requirements on standardized tests this year with the pandemic.

Georgia schools are staring down another rough road to close out the 2020-21 term after shifting to online-only courses last spring and returning to uncertain classroom settings in the fall. Many districts remain strictly virtual while others have given students the option to resume in-person studies.