COLUMBUS — An Ohio Senate committee on Tuesday put the brakes on holding back more third-graders because of reading deficiencies, delaying a key aspect of Republican Gov. John Kasich’s education reform plan for at least a year.

The full Senate today could vote on the revised bill, though Kasich made it clear he’s not happy with the changes passed by the Senate Education Committee.

“The legislation being considered in the Senate would let principals promote kids even if they’re struggling with reading, micromanage how struggling readers are helped, strip parents of the chance to seek outside reading help for their kids and simply lower reading standards,” Kasich said in a statement released shortly after the vote.

But West Carrollton City School Superintendent Rusty Clifford, who testified on the bill in Columbus last month, said more planning and money for training and support is needed before adopting the so-called third-grade reading guarantee.

“There are lots of moving pieces there that weren’t nailed down (such as funding and retention), and they need the time to really get things in line across the state,” Clifford said. “It also might make sense to be closer to the implementation of national standards in reading and math (which is in 2014-15).”

Clifford added that retention should never be the answer for students.

“We need to stop talking about retaining in third grade and talk about intervening in kindergarten,” Clifford said. “And we have to make sure implementation of reading instruction is consistent.”

The revised bill lowered what was being proposed as the minimum reading test score needed to pass third grade, added exceptions for certain students and set aside $13 million in lottery money for tutoring and other reading interventions beginning with the 2013-14 school year.

Under the plan, schools and school districts would be assigned letter grades after the 2012-13 school year based on factors to be determined with the help of a task force. The original proposal called for those grades to be assigned after the current school year.

All nine committee members voted in favor of the bill, even though Republican members killed all but one of the amendments from Democratic senators. One failed amendment would have removed a controversial provision allowing school districts to contract third-party evaluators to complete teacher evaluations.

Sen. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, agreed with many of the changes to the bill, but said he was concerned about the development of third-party evaluators.

“We have seen the growth of school districts that have developed their own evaluation systems,” Sawyer said. “I think we can do better than this.”

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, said the changes put Kasich’s policy ideas on solid footing, drawing on experience from other states that enacted both reforms and on advice from people in Ohio.

Lehner said the minimum pass score is lower than some prefer but reduces the number of students who would be held back and lessens the burden on schools and districts as they shift to tougher standards with tougher tests. About 17,000 of last year’s third-graders — 13 percent — could have been held back for not scoring “proficient” or higher under the original proposal, according to Ohio Department of Education estimates.

“We just want to get this right,” Lehner told the Dayton Daily News. “There’s an awful lot that depends on this — not just students but the lives of teachers and communities. A lot of people depend on accurately assessing our schools.”

Lehner said new report cards couldn’t be issued in August of this year anyway because the bill wouldn’t become law until 90 days after the governor signs it. The report card task force consists of the governor’s education adviser, the state superintendent, the president of the State Board of Education and one legislative member from each party in each state legislative body. Lehner said the group will gather information from all parties including Ohio educators and experts from other states and recommend changes to lawmakers before Oct. 1.

Both the school letter grades and third-grade reading guarantee were modeled after reforms in Florida. About 13 percent of Florida third-graders were held back the first year its reading guarantee went into effect, but almost two-thirds of those retained improved their test scores, according to a Florida Legislature report.

Florida’s letter grade report card evolved during several years and gives equal weight to performance and growth.

Kasich’s proposal didn’t include new funding for reading remediation and tutors; administration officials said school districts could shift money around in their budgets to cover the costs. Senators added a new competitive grant program with $13 million from lottery profits.

Beavercreek City Schools Superintendent Nick Verhoff said he welcomed the lottery money as long as it isn’t used to justify additional cuts.

“As long as that lottery money is to supplement and not supplant,” he said. “That (lottery) money goes into education, but it leaves education, as well.”

Verhoff said he appreciated that lawmakers listened to the concerns expressed by educators.

“I’m in favor of collecting as much information as possible in making informed decisions,” Verhoff said. “Trying to create laws that are fair to all districts is not an easy task.”

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or jborchardt@daytondaily news.com.