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Nationwide, the issue of standardized testing has emerged as a hot button issue.Experts have questionedthe security of testing practices, along with the pressure tests can place on students, and teachers’ concern about losing classroom instruction time.Late last month, the issue emerged in the state legislature after the Ohio house passed a bill aiming to limit the amount of time students spend on those exams.Under House Bill 228, standardized testing would be capped at a maximum of four hours per subject per year for a majority of students.But the bill’s fate could hinge on another piece of state issued paper.A line tucked into Gov. John Kasich’s 2014 Mid-Biennium Review called for state superintendent Dick Ross to review Ohio’s current standardized testing system. By January 15, Ross and his staff at the Ohio Department of Education will have to issue a report with the exact number of required exams, along with recommendations to potentially decrease that number.Ohio Department of Education spokesperson John Charlton says the department would like to see the study published before lawmakers make any moves regarding H.B. 228.“We would ask that the legislature wait until the Board of Education completes the report that they asked us to do,” he said. “Then they can use the information contained in that report to inform any decisions that they make.”Charlton declined to comment on what a reduced testing schedule would someday look like, but a recent editorial in the Akron Beacon Journal said the current annual amount of roughly 32 hours could potentially be cut in half if the bill passes.Currently, Ohio’s students take standardized exams in subject areas including English language arts, math, social studies, and science from third grade until eighth grade, with exams continuing throughout high school.Senators may want to see Ross’ report before making a decision, Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Peggy Lehner told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, adding that HB 228 may have trouble passing during this lame-duck Senate session."I think there's a great deal of support to limit testing," Lehner said. "I'm not so sure there's that much support for this particular way of doing it."But one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Republican Rep. Andrew Brenner, told the newspaper it’d be more beneficial if the bill was passed before Ross’ report is published, which would let the department know the issue’s significance.The bill now must pass the state Senate before the year is over.