Columbus- A proposal to eliminate the fourth-grade reading requirement from the Ohio Proficiency tests is being put together by the new speaker of the Ohio House.

State Rep. Larry Householder, and Athens-area Republican scheduled to take over as speaker in January, said the current law would force too many children to flunk fourth-grade. Starting in the 2001-02 school year, fourth graders who flunk the reading test could be kept from advancing to fifth grade.

Householder confirmed yesterday that he was working on a bill with fellow Republican Reps. James P. Trakas of Independence and Jon Peterson of Delaware. Trakas said the proposal calls for eliminating the fourth-grade reading requirement and instead requiring schools to remedial help to fourth-graders who dial help to fourth-graders who failed the test. The students, however, would still advance to fifth grade.

Householder has not yet signed off on the specifics of the plan, nor when it would be officially unveiled. But yesterday he said he was concerned that 53,400 Ohio students could have been forced to repeat fourth grade had the requirement been in place last year.

“That has got to be looked at,” Householder said.

A new state teacher poll released yesterday is expected t add to the debate on Proficiency tests.

The mail-in survey of 571 eighth-grade teachers found that only half of them think the tests cover the material that should be taught in their classes. Only 45 percent believe the tests have increased student learning, and 70 percent said they forgo other studies, such as music and art, to focus on test material, according to the poll, conducted over the past year by the Legislative Office of Education Oversight.

“Rather than being a guiding force throughout the year, the test is treated as an intrusion in many classrooms,” said an analysis of the survey provided by the oversight office.

The survey focused on teachers’ views if the ninth-grade proficiency test, which is first offered to students in the spring of eighth grade. Students must pass all five parts of the test – reading, writing, math, science and citizenship – in order to graduate high school.

State Sen. Robert Gardner, a Madison Republican and chairman of the Education Oversight Committee, said he was not surprised by the survey results.

“If you have 10 eighth-grad teachers in a room, they may all believe we should be teaching something different,” said Gardner, former teacher and long-time supporter of proficiency tests.

Yesterday’s developments came as lawmakers started their electionseason vacation without taking action on proficiency tests or the other big education issue of the year – school funding.

When the legislature reconvenes after the election in November, it will have been six months since the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Ohio’s system of funding public education is unconstitutional.

Some Democrats complained that the legislature’s Republican majority is skirting the issue until after the Nov. 7^th election, in which all 99 House seats and 16 of the 33 Senate seats are up for grabs.

“If we had worked diligently on [school funding], we could have put something together in time for the election,” said Sen. Eric Fingerhut, a Cleveland Democrat.

Republican leaders, who have appointed two committees to work on the funding issue, countered by saying the issues are complex and solutions should not be rushed.