COLUMBUS, Ohio – Risking the loss of three-quarters of a billion dollars in federal education funding, Republican leaders in the Ohio House have placed language in the two-year budget to ban the use of new student assessments and cut off the money to pay for them.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
The PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) tests in English/language arts and math have been under fire for being too hard on students, taking too much time away from classroom instruction, and technical glitches with the online exams.
One such glitch in a computer server halted Common Core-related testing in three states this week.
The House version of a two-year state budget prohibits the use of state funds to purchase the PARCC exams. It also slashes $33.6 million per year from the Department of Education’s budget for assessments and bans the reallocation of money to pay for assessments.
The proposal does not suggest a replacement for the tests that are required under federal law — and even if it did, the money to pay for them has been eliminated. Ohio spent $45 million on PARCC, which took years to develop and align with new Common Core academic standards.
“We’re trying to send a message that is pretty clear: We need to look at different testing mechanisms for the state,” said House Finance Chairman Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell).
The U.S. Department of Education was quick to reiterate federal testing requirements, stressing that Ohio officials could be putting $750 million at risk.
“It is the responsibility of states to ensure that all students are assessed annually because it gives educators and parents an idea of how the student is doing and ensures that schools are paying attention to traditionally underserved populations,” Dorie Nolt, press secretary for the federal agency said in a statement.
“The department has not had to withhold money – yet – over this requirement because states have either complied or have appropriately sanctioned schools or districts that assessed less than 95 percent of students.”
Under federal law, students must be tested in English/language arts and mathematics in grades three through eight and once in high school. Ohio began using PARCC exams this year to meet that requirement.