Members of a Senate panel on Wednesday joined a chorus of skeptics who question whether the state should spend millions of dollars on a proposed state graduation testing program for Pennsylvania high school students.

Senators who participated in a Senate Education Committee hearing expressed doubts that the tests proposed by the State Board of Education would live up to the promise of ensuring that all graduates would be prepared for college and careers after high school.

‘‘It seems we’re getting test-happy,’‘ said Sen. James Rhoades, R-Schuylkill, the committee’s chairman.

The board has proposed creating a battery of 10 final examinations covering math, science, English and social studies. By the time this year’s sixth-graders — the class of 2014 — reach high school, they would have to pass six exams to graduate.
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