Reps. Sobecki and Crossman Refile Bill to Cancel State Testing for Schools During Pandemic

Today, State Reps. Lisa Sobecki (D-Toledo) and Jeff Crossman (D-Parma) reintroduced House Bill (HB) 686 from the 133rd General Assembly to cancel end-of-year state testing for the 2020-2021 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Although HB 686 never received a hearing during the last General Assembly, we continued to hear from school administrators, teachers and parents about the importance of cancelling state testing again due to the ongoing pandemic,” said Rep. Sobecki. “We are still hearing from constituents today that we should not have state testing this spring, so we decided to reintroduce our bill.”

“We know there is broad and bipartisan support for this legislation, which is why Rep. Sobecki and I have continued to press this issue,” said Rep. Crossman. “We have reached out to the Speaker’s office multiple times, both during the last General Assembly and this one, to meet with Speaker Cupp to discuss the importance of this legislation, and we will continue to do so. Forcing state mandated tests under the current pandemic conditions makes no sense at this point.”

The bill has not yet received an official number or been assigned to a committee this General Assembly. Reps. Sobecki and Crossman are still awaiting an appointment with Speaker Bob Cupp (R-Lima)’s office to discuss the importance of this legislation for Ohio’s students and educators.