INDIANAPOLIS (AP): Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has signed a bill into law that will repeal the deeply unpopular ISTEP student exam by July of next year.

Pence signed the bill Tuesday during an assembly at Eagle Elementary School in Zionsville. He jokingly told students the good news is that the ISTEP will go away but the bad news is they will still have to take tests.

The measure sponsored by GOP House Education committee Chairman Bob Behning creates a 23-member panel of educators and experts who will study and make recommendations about what should replace ISTEP.

Pence said the new law increases the amount of say teachers and principals have over the direction of state testing.

Students performed dismally on the 2015 ISTEP after a Republican-led overhaul of the test.