Ohio General Assembly activity
The Ohio General Assembly sent the following bills to the governor for his signature:
• House Bill (HB) 21, sponsored by Rep. Stephen D. Hambley (R-Brunswick), which requires charter schools, instead of school districts, to verify charter school student residency and enrollment. The bill also delays a requirement for public and private schools to install storm shelters until after Sept. 15, 2019.
• HB 438, sponsored by Hambley and Rep. Darrell Kick (R-Loudonville), which affects the composition and annexation of educational service centers and local school districts and requires the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission to conduct a third round of classroom facilities grant funding for high-performing charter schools.
House activity
After 11 rounds of voting, the House elected Rep. Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell) as speaker. Smith fills the vacancy left by former Rep. Cliff Rosenberger (R-Clarksville), who resigned in April amid a rumored FBI probe into his overseas travel.
The House passed HB 491 by a vote of 80-2, sending the bill to the Senate for consideration. The bill would require the issuance of substitute licenses to qualified speech-language pathologists, audiologists, registered nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists and social workers.
Senate activity
The Senate amended and passed HB 318 by a vote of 33-0. It now goes to the House for a concurrence vote. The bill prescribes qualifications and training requirements for school resource officers and appropriates grant money to public and private schools for school safety programs and training. Prior to passage, the Senate Education Committee made several changes to the bill including:
• increasing the one-time appropriation to $12 million, instead of $10 million;
• inserting Senate Bill (SB) 246 into the bill, which the Senate unanimously passed in May.
Senate Finance Committee
The committee adopted a substitute version of SB 225, sponsored by Sens. Joe Schiavoni (D-Boardman) and John Eklund (R-Munson Township). The bill now is identical to HB 378 — its companion bill in the House — which passed the House in April. The bill creates the Ohio Broadband Development Grant Program and allows school districts, among others, to apply for grants under the program.
The committee also heard sponsor testimony on SB 258, sponsored by Schiavoni. The bill appropriates $34.2 million to award grants to school districts for school safety purposes.
Senate Education Committee
The committee conducted first hearings on the following bills:
• SB 294, sponsored by Eklund and Sen. Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering), which increases to $7,000 the maximum amount under the Cleveland Scholarship Program;
• SB 276, sponsored by Sen. Jay Hottinger (R-Newark), which authorizes student expulsions for actions that endanger the health and safety of other students or school employees;
• SB 287, sponsored by Sen. Vernon Sykes (D-Akron), which requires the State Board of Education to create health education standards for K-12 schools.
House Health Committee
The committee conducted a first hearing on HB 248, sponsored by Reps. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) and Michele Lepore-Hagan (D-Youngstown). The bill deals with comprehensive sexual health and sexually transmitted infection education in schools.