Implementation of former Governor Bob Taft's Ohio Core educational reform package was extended to 2014 to give school districts more time to mesh program requirements with the Ohio Graduation Test, according to state Rep. Thom Collier.

Collier was quoted in the Mount Vernon News on January 5 in an article about last-minute passage of Ohio Core by the lame-duck legislature.

He said the Ohio House listened to hours of testimony before passing the bill, then voted to delay the implementation date to make sure there would be time to correlate the new curriculum requirements with the content of the Ohio Graduation Test. All Ohio high school seniors are required to pass the OGT in order to graduate, beginning this spring.

Collier said House members wanted to give Ohio's 600-plus school districts more time to adjust schedules and class offerings and more money to train teachers for the stiffened math and science requirements.