TORONTO -- Ontario school principals are asking the Progressive Conservative government to cancel the upcoming standardized math tests for grade nine students and suspend elementary-school report cards, amid the ongoing work-to-rule campaigns in schools.

The Ontario Principals Council (OPC) sent a letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce asking the ministry to “suspend the collection, completion and transition of student data” related to the EQAO tests and to cancel the grade nine test scheduled for Jan. 2020.

"While contract negotiations continue and withdrawals of service are ongoing, it is not 'business as usual' in schools," OPC President Nancy Brady said in the letter.

Public high school teachers, represented by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), are into their third week of a work-to-rule campaign – which includes not participating in EQAO testing and not preparing report cards for students.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) launched a similar work-to-rule campaign on Nov. 26 and said educators would only provide basic marks and teacher comments for report cards, leaving it to school administrators to prepare the information for parents.

"Without support from teachers who have direct knowledge of the accommodation needs for the students in their classes, accurately completing these tasks is difficult and, in some cases, incomprehensive," the letter reads.

The OPC letter asks the minister to “replace report cards” in elementary schools to a “standardized progress update” while school boards at the secondary level should receive funding to “hire external staff to input grades for credit-bearing courses.”

Education Minister Stephen Lecce acknowledged that he received the letter and is reviewing the requests made by the OPC, but said he is still optimistic the work can continue if new contracts are signed.

"I want to see EQAO testing, I want to see report cards filled in a fulsome way," Lecce told CTV News Toronto.

"We are going to look at the request by our principals, because we want to make sure that [we] never undermine the learning of our kids."

Lecce, however, said his aim is to land a deal with teachers unions and potentially pave the way for standardized testing to continue.

Negotiations between the government and the union stalled on Monday and are not expected to resume until January.