The Ohio House Thursday passed a bill to limit state testing of students in Ohio to four hours per subject a year.
If passed by the Senate, House Bill 228 would limit the time spent on state tests next school year, but won’t be in place in time to affect testing this spring. It would force testing time for new state tests to be cut approximately in half.
Bill co-sponsor Andrew Brenner, a Powell Republican, said the 88-4 vote was “overwhelming” support for reducing testing, as many educators have asked for.
“I think, clearly, the community has spoken,” Brenner said. “That’s the entire education community. This bill was supported by pretty much everyone, people on the ground: the parents, the teachers, the superintendents.”
The bill is expected to land next with the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Peggy Lehner, a Kettering Republican. Lehner said she is not sure there will be support for the bill in the lame duck session.
State Superintendent Richard Ross is scheduled to have a report by Jan. 15 on how testing can be reduced in the state. Lehner said senators may prefer to wait for that.
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