In light of the governor's proposal last week to have the state pick up the tab for those expensive Advanced Placement tests,  there was interesting news out of Houston this past week. After deciding to offset the cost of AP tests, the Houston school system has seen a 47 percent jump in the number of students who are taking the exams in one year. The Houston Chronicle reports that 9,000 students took the tests last spring. The pass rate dipped a few percentage points, but officials expected that.

Here's the caveat, though. Houston required any student enrolled in an AP class to take the test.