Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City)
Dayton administration officials oppose a move at the legislature to require public school students pass a basic civics test before they can graduate. The bill’s sponsor, Grove City Representative Dean Urdahl says he’s afraid the state is “losing a generation of people in terms of their foundational knowledge of our government.” Urdahl says we’ll have “a lot of trouble in the future maintaining citizens’ participation if we continue to do this.” Charlene Briner with the state Education Department says they agree on making civics more important, but not with another graduation exam. Briner says a standardized test is not necessarily the most engaging way to excite students about civics and other activities would yield far more benefit.