Gov. Phil Murphy vowed on the campaign trail last year to eliminate the controversial PARCC exam as soon as he took office.

That didn't happen. And now his administration's plan to at least begin phasing the test out has some state lawmakers saying:"Not so fast."

Last week, the state Board of Education delayed a vote on Murphy's plans to eliminate four of the six exams and loosen graduation requirements. Board members cited concern over a lack of research and data on the issue.

Then, lawmakers held a joint legislative hearing Monday on the proposal, with a handful voicing concern about what the changes to the test -- officially known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam -- mean for students in the state's public schools.

"My concern is that rolling back the PARCC test basically to the federal minimum standards is not going to continue to move New Jersey and New Jersey students in the right direction," said state Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt, D-Camden, chairwoman of the Assembly's education committee.

Listen to NJ.com on Alexa or via a daily podcast

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, noted that while the state school board has the ultimate say and lawmakers can't unilaterally stop the changes, the goal is to "draw greater attention to what's happening."

"This can't be done in a vacuum," Ruiz, D-Essex, chairwoman of the Senate's education committee, told NJ Advance Media after the hearing. "It's got to be done super-responsibly and thoughtfully."

Ruiz said during the hearing she wants "empirical data" showing the tests should end.

"If we move entirely away from (assessments) in the high school years, what kind of data will we be getting to our families, and to our teachers and to our principals, to make sure there is a remediation plan that protects that child?" she asked Murphy's state education commissioner, Lamont Repollet, who testified at the hearing.

Repollet said schools can use regular tests, grades, and performance reports to gauge students' progress.

He also stressed to lawmakers Monday that he and his staff visited all 21 counties in recent months to hear from residents and others about the proposal.

And he insisted the changes are needed to help lessen the burden caused by the tests on students.

"We feel they've been tested enough," Repollet said. "It gets to a point: When are we going to start preparing them for life after high school?"

"We're not changing graduation," he said at another point. "We're not changing high-stakes standards we have. All we're asking is to reduce the number of assessments, and that's what we hear from the field."

Some political insiders privately wondered whether this was the latest episode in ongoing disagreements between Murphy and the state's top legislator, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a fellow Democrat.

After all, the state's largest teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, backs Murphy's changes. Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and the NJEA have long feuded, with the union spending millions of dollars last year in an unsuccessful bid to oust the Senate president.

NJEA president Marie Blistan stood by Murphy's plan Monday.

"PARCC is so disconnected from the realities of the classroom and the multitude of factors that contribute to student growth, that it simply cannot gauge any progress made within a single classroom across a given academic school year," Blistan said in a statement.

Sweeney denied that politics are involved.

"It's not politics at all," he told NJ Advance Media. "Sen. Ruiz and I both strongly believe in proper testing for our young people to make sure they're learning. It's not about a test -- it's about learning."

"The administration making the changes they made to make PARCC almost toothless in the process was insulting," Sweeney added.

The administration of Murphy's Republican predecessor, Chris Christie, implemented PARCC in 2015.

Ever since, it's been slammed by many parents and educators as being too confusing and taking too much time.

In proposing the changes this summer, Murphy's administration said a replacement could be in place by the 2020-2021 school year.

The recent hubbub over the plan could all be for naught. The state school board could vote on whether to implement Murphy's changes as soon as Oct. 3.

Alyana Alfaro, a Murphy spokeswoman, said last week that the governor "believes that New Jersey's students and educators will benefit from transitioning away from high-stakes testing that values teaching to the test over comprehensive learning."

"Governor Murphy hopes that the State School Board will carefully review the administration's recommendations and act to move New Jersey's schools forward," Alfaro added.

But Ruiz said she will take what was said at Monday's hearing and do a "deep dive" on the issue. Hopefully, she said, the board will hold off on voting to allow for even "further discussion" on the matter.

"Further discussion to me to come up with a final plan doesn't happen in the next few weeks," she said.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Adam Clark contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.