by Nicole Piscitani • June 5, 2024
The prior Legislative Report focused on bills that were moving in the Ohio House. This issue will look at bills that either recently passed in the Senate or could potentially pass in the Senate.
Senate Bill (SB) 208
This bill passed out of the Senate in late May and still needs to work its way through the Ohio House. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Kristina D. Roegner (R-Hudson), would require a district to include an exception for military children in its open enrollment policy. The issue was brought to Roegner to better position Ohio during Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decisions. One consideration during the BRAC decision-making is how friendly a state is to military families, and allowing military families to open enroll their children is viewed positively.
Ohio’s public schools have local flexibility as it pertains to open enrollment. A school district can choose to allow students from a neighboring district or from any school district to attend its schools. Additionally, a district can choose to not allow open enrollment students from another district.
SB 208 creates a narrow exception: districts that do not allow open enrollment would be required to permit a student to open enroll if the student’s parent is an active duty member of the armed forces stationed in Ohio and if the school has capacity for that student. A parent would have to provide the district a copy of the parent’s official written order verifying the parent’s status as an active duty member of the armed forces. Additionally, the school is prohibited from charging tuition and would not be responsible for transporting the student.
Currently, Ohio has approximately 10,000 children of active duty military personnel who would be eligible for the exception. That number does not take into account those who may already have open enrollment options due to surrounding school districts allowing open enrollment students.
The bill has yet to receive a hearing in the Ohio House.
SB 112
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Michael A. Rulli (R-Salem), would require that school buildings comply with safety standards as they pertain to protective doors. Specifically, school districts would be required to do the following:
- Require protective door assemblies installed in 2015 or later to comply with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 standards from 2015, or standards subsequently adopted by the Ohio Board of Building Standards.
- Mandate that doors installed before 2015 comply with NFPA 101 standards in place at the time of installation.
- Require that the school governing authorities verify compliance of those protective door assemblies by having an inspection every 12 months by a qualified inspector.
- Specify that a temporary door-locking device in compliance with rules adopted by the Ohio Board of Building Standards is compliant for the purposes of the inspections, regardless of any contrary standards of NFPA 101.
- Require that school governing authorities maintain records of inspections conducted in accordance with the bill.
- Require that the authority having jurisdiction to annually inspect those records monitor compliance with the bill’s requirements.
- Require that inspectors issue citations to schools if they fail to address an issue within 18 months.
- Mandate that schools provide notice of their noncompliance on their websites until the issue has been resolved.
- Assign responsibility for enforcement to the state fire marshal's office.
The bill was passed out of the Senate Education Committee in late May and could receive consideration on the Senate Floor before the Senate leaves for summer recess. If the bill passes out of the Senate, the Ohio House would begin its legislative consideration of the SB 112.
House Bill (HB) 147
HB 147, sponsored by Reps. Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-Ashtabula) and Adam C. Miller (D-Columbus), would make changes regarding teacher licensure revocation, teacher hiring practices and conduct unbecoming to the teaching profession. Specifically, the bill looks to close a loophole by requiring a school district, educational service center (ESC), or chartered nonpublic school to file a report with the superintendent of public instruction regarding a licensed employee who retires during a disciplinary investigation for misconduct. Furthermore, the bill also requires that the report be filed if the employee retires under threat of termination or nonrenewal of the employee’s contract during the investigation. Lastly, the bill would require that a school file a report with the superintendent of public instruction when the district, ESC or chartered nonpublic school removes a licensed employee from the list of eligible substitute teachers because it has reasonably determined that the employee committed an act that is unbecoming to the teaching profession.
The bill has received five hearings in the Senate Education Committee and has not been amended since it passed the Ohio House. Since HB 147 continues to receive committee hearings and with the absence of amendments, it is likely that the bill will pass out of the Senate Education Committee and could also pass on the Senate floor in June. If the bill passes, it will move directly to Gov. Mike DeWine for his consideration.