Ohio law will soon require open enrollment for military families. Senate Bill 208 (SB 208), which was signed on January 8, 2025 and will go into effect on April 25, 2025, requires Ohio school districts to permit enrollment of students in military families who are stationed in the state. It does this by changing the language of R.C. 3313.98(I). Under SB 208, whether or not a district has an open enrollment policy, the district must provide an exception to enroll children whose parents are active-duty members of the armed forces stationed in Ohio.
SB 208 also changes the meaning and impact of “other district student” in R.C. 3313.981. It dictates that any student enrolled under the military student exception, laid out in R.C. 3313.98, will be considered an “other district student” and an “adjacent district student”, even if they are not coming from an adjacent district. This will impact district reporting requirements under R.C. 3313.981.
The inclusion of military students as “other district students” and “adjacent district students” means that districts will be required to provide transportation services for students enrolled under this exception. However, districts only need to transport the student to an existing bus stop closest to the student’s home. For families who fall below the federal poverty line, the district may reimburse the family for the reasonable cost of transportation to and from their home and the existing bus stop.
Additionally, districts who enroll a preschool child with a disability under the military student open enrollment exception will receive $4,000 annually from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW).
If the military parent is discharged or released from active duty after a student is enrolled under the military student exception, the student will be permitted to attend the school and receive transportation services through the end of the school year, during which the active-duty status ended. After the school year, during which the parent was separated from active duty ends, the student will need to enroll in another district.