Blogs

As expected, it was an active lame duck session with legislators passing a number of bills impacting K-12 schools today. Both chambers have adjourned and are not expected to return this year.

The following bills will go to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature:

• ESSER appropriation, DPIA phase-in, school safety grant program, and more – the Senate Finance Committee included a number of amendments in House Bill (HB) 45, which was passed by the Senate and received a concurrence vote from the House, including:
• ESSER appropriation: Provides approximately $1.7 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) appropriation authority to schools, as requested by the Ohio Department of Education.
• Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid (DPIA) phase-in: For fiscal year 2023, increases the phase-in percentage for DPIA from 14% to 33.33%.
• School Safety Grant Program: Provides $112 million for additional grants under the School Safety Grant Program, which will be used to award competitive grants of up to $100,000 per school building to eligible public school districts and chartered nonpublic schools for building security and safety enhancements.
• School raffles: Restores the ability of school districts to conduct a raffle, fixing the change included in budget bill (HB 110).
• School storm shelter requirement: Prohibits the Board of Building Standards from requiring the installation of storm shelters in school buildings operated by public or private schools or undergoing or about to undergo construction, alteration, repair, or maintenance.
• School district transportation payment: Adds the following weights to calculate transportation payments for school districts using miles driven for school bus service:
• (1) 1.5 to the number of miles driven for community school and STEM school students for the current fiscal year; and
• (2) 2.0 to the number of miles driven for nonpublic school students for the current fiscal year.
  
  
• Elimination of the August election; election laws; voter ID requirements – the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee accepted and reported out a substitute bill for House Bill (HB) 458, which includes the elimination of the August election, as well as changes to Ohio’s election laws and voter ID requirements. The Senate passed HB 458 on Tuesday and the House concurred with the Senate’s changes on Wednesday during its evening session.
• Community reinvestment areas (CRAs) modifications – House Bill (HB) 123 was amended into Senate Bill (SB) 33 by the House Ways and Means Committee. The provisions from HB 123 modify the 25-year law governing community reinvestment areas (CRA) by raising the threshold requiring board approval from 50% to 75% for a CRA property tax exemption, repealing annual reporting requirements and eliminating locally impacted boards of education from receiving reports on agreements that are in place during a given year, among other changes. The House passed amended SB 33 and the Senate voted to concur with the House’s changes very early Thursday morning.
  
  
• Review of property tax exemptions; authorization for combined renewal levy – the Senate Ways and Means Committee amended House Bill (HB) 66, which requires the reporting of information on and legislative review of property tax exemptions, to include a number of additional provisions. Those provisions include the authority to combine into one ballot question the renewal of an emergency property tax levy and a combination income and property tax levy. Under current law, a school district may renew an emergency property tax levy or may renew a combination income and property tax levy, but either renewal must be submitted to voters as a separate question on the ballot. The bill passed the Senate and received a concurrence vote in the House.
  
  
• Temporary educator licenses – House Bill (HB) 554 requires require the State Board of Education to issue temporary educator licenses to applicants with expired professional teacher's certificates and professional educator licenses. A number of amendments were added to the bill in the Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee related to children of military families participating in College Credit Plus, expanding eligibility of special education funding for students with developmental delays, among others. The amended bill passed both chambers on Wednesday evening.
  
  

Senate Bill (SB) 178, which would reform the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), was amended into House Bill 151, which would revise the teacher residency program. The House failed to concur with the Senate amendments meaning that all provisions included in HB 151, including the provisions of SB 178 did not pass. We do expect the restructuring of ODE to be a discussion in the next General Assembly which will convene in early January.

The final days of lame-duck session delivered some “wins” for public education along with a few unwanted changes. As we move into January and welcome the 135th General Assembly, your involvement and advocacy is more important than ever. Many of the positive changes that occurred over the last few days were a result of your advocacy on behalf of your students and your districts. If you have not connected (or re-connected) with your legislators, please reach out today and schedule a time to meet with them in early January. One of most effective things you can do is to welcome them into your school buildings and share the wonderful things students, teachers, and staff are doing in Ohio. We have much to be proud of in public education. Make sure you share the amazing things your students and staff are doing.

Bill pages, with Legislative Service Commission analysis and fiscal notes, are linked above.

Please contact us with any questions.