Watts wrote what is commonly known as Ohio's "No Pass/No Play" law that required Ohio's school districts to set a minimum grade-point average for participation in sports and other extracurricular activities. The law, which gave the districts until July to come up with standards, did not go far enough, Watts said.

A recent Ohio Department of Education survey found that 93 percent of schools that responded do not require a minimum 2.0 average and that 48 percent require a 1.0, Watts said. Some schools, he added, require only a 0.67 average, which is four D's and two F's.

"We gave local school districts the opportunity to implement their own standards," Watts said. "They failed and they failed for the most part pretty miserably."

Watts' effort for a 2.0 standard dates back to 1985. Concerns that it takes away local school board control, is punitive and will lessen a student's motivation for attending school have prevented passage into law.

His latest proposal would apply to students participating in sports and extracurricular activities in grades seven through 12. Learning disabled students would not be affected.