We urge the Ohio Legislature to end the Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

During the lame-duck session, after passing the Ohio House by a margin of 82-10 and being endorsed by the Ohio State Board of Education, HB 497 was never considered by the Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee and never forwarded for a vote by the full Ohio Senate. The 134th General Assembly has adjourned; the bill would have to be reintroduced again in a future General Assembly.

At its November, 2022 meeting, the Ohio State Board of Education passed a resolution urging the Ohio Senate to pass HB 497, thereby ending the Third Grade Guarantee’s mandatory retention in third grade for students who do not achieve a proficient score on the third-grade standardized language arts assessment.