OSBA would like to thank our extern, Joshua Menden, for drafting this week's blog post.
As the holidays approach, it may be a time for general cheer and merrymaking, but before hanging the stockings, boards of education must remember some of the important deadlines coming up. So, say goodbye to 2023, and get ready to ring in 2024 with your board’s annual organizational meeting.
Ohio Revised Code 3313.14 requires boards to set a date for an organizational meeting for the upcoming year prior to Dec. 31. For boards of education of city, local, and exempted village school districts, this meeting must take place within the first fifteen days of January. This meeting must occur sometime in January for boards of joint vocational school districts (JVSDs) and educational service centers (ESCs).
These meetings have many functions, such as setting the schedule for 2024's yearly board meetings, making appointments to the JVSD board, or adopting the district's tax budget per RC 5705.28. One essential function is selecting the subsequent year's president and vice president. This means that at the December meeting, it is advisable for the board to elect a president pro tempore to call the January meeting to order and preside over the selection of the new president. If your district’s policy requires a president to officiate a meeting this may be necessary, so make sure to review your guidelines. Additionally review what members of the board can be a president pro tempore.
Organizational meetings are an important function of the board, and OSBA maintains several resources on this topic for your review. We encourage you to review our Organizational Meeting and Oath of Office fact sheet for more information. We have also written several blog posts on the topic in addition to this one that you may find helpful. Also, we receive many questions about these topics on the legal hotline, and we encourage members to utilize this resource if you have any questions by calling (855) OSBA-LAW.