BATON ROUGE (AP) — Critics say it will produce illiterate students, but a plan for a new high school diploma has moved another step forward in the Legislature.

Rep. Jim Fannin, a Jonesboro Democrat, says his bill will lower Louisiana’s dropout rate by easing standardized testing requirements and allowing poorly performing students to follow a curriculum aimed at training them for work in industry.

Critics say the plan would simply make it easier to slide through high school without learning to read, write or perform basic mathematics.

The Senate Education Committee approved the measure on Thursday without objection, sending it to the full Senate for debate.