Richardson Introduces Legislation to Clarify State Education Standards

COLUMBUS – State Representative Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville) has introduced legislation to clarify and standardize social studies education for Ohio’s primary and secondary schools. 

The legislation will create the Ohio State Social Studies Task Force, which would consist of nine members appointed by the House speaker, Senate president and the governor. The purpose of the task force is to address vague content statements and disparity of social studies instruction.

“Ohio’s children deserve an education that will teach them the founding principles of the United States and what it truly means to be an American,” said Richardson. “This bill seeks to create a task force that will ensure our social studies standards do just that. The new standards are required to be clear, consistent and reflective of American values so that our students will know how fortunate they are to live in our great nation.”

The legislation requires the task force to use “American Birthright: The Civics Alliance’s Model K-12 Social Studies Standards” as the base for a report along with the founding documents, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution. This report will allow legislators to implement legislative changes for the 2024-2025 school year. 

The Civics Alliance is part of the National Association of Scholars and is composed of America’s leading conservative professors. 

The legislation has not yet been assigned to a committee.