The 136th General Assembly held its ceremonial opening session on Monday, January 6, 2025. The members of both chambers took their oaths of office and formally voted for House and Senate leadership. Matt Huffman (R-Lima) was elected Speaker of the House and Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) was elected Senate President. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) was re-elected to serve as the House Minority Leader and Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) was re-elected to serve as the Senate Minority Leader, both positions they held in the last General Assembly. New bill introductions will begin next week, and both chambers are slated to return for session the week of January 20, 2025.
The House and Senate have mapped out their scheduled session dates through June, meeting almost weekly with the exception of holidays. In opening day speeches, leadership in both chambers made their intentions to “get things done” very clear, particularly over the next few weeks before state operating budget bills are introduced in mid-February. Facts in a Flash will provide OSBA members with weekly updates as 136th General Assembly’s work begins.
Governor’s Activity
Governor DeWine had until Thursday, January 9 to veto or sign into law the acts passed by the 135th General Assembly. Before the constitutional deadline, Governor DeWine signed the following pieces of legislation:
- Senate Bill (SB) 54 - Sponsored by Sen. Michelle Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) and Vernon Sykes (D-Akron), the bill’s substitute language dedicates millions to various programs and capital projects. An education-related appropriation of $250,000 was made in the bill for the 1in5 Foundation to promote suicide prevention in schools. Governor DeWine vetoed a specific appropriation to reimburse county election boards for the cost of running the May election. The law will take effect on April 2, 2025.
- House Bill (HB) 315 - Sponsored by Reps. Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township) and Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati), this omnibus bill made a plethora of changes to township and other local and state government law. Of interest to school districts, the bill included the ability for townships to extend a tax increment financing districts for 15 additional years, made changes to current agricultural use value (CAUV) property taxes for land in connection with the H2Ohio program, and added new requirements of the Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) to provide all school districts with best practices to help ensure the educational stability of students who are in the foster care system. Governor DeWine vetoed specific sections of the bill dealing with exemptions to ethics laws, clerk of court governance and “medical free speech”. The law will take effect on April 2, 2025.
- SB 208 - Sponsored by Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), this bill originally created open enrollment policy exceptions for military children, but was amended by the House to include changes to school district and educational service center purchases of technological equipment, virtual services provided under special needs scholarship programs, public school employee in-service training in child sexual abuse prevention, pre-service teacher permits and student and driver training instruction in peace officer interactions. The bill also establishes early childhood education Regional Partnerships Programs and exempts home education groups from child care regulations and county and township zoning regulations. The law will take effect on April 8, 2025.
- SB 234 - Sponsored by Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green), this bill will designate May as “Food Allergy Awareness Month” and “Lupus Awareness Month”, and require schools and higher education institutions to include the national suicide and crisis lifeline telephone number on student identification cards, student planners and electronic portals (language formally a part of HB 571). The law will take effect on April 8, 2025.
- HB 8 - Sponsored by Reps. D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron) and Sara P. Carruthers (R-Hamilton), this bill enacts the "Parents' Bill of Rights" to require public schools to adopt a policy on parental notification on student health and well-being and instructional materials with sexually explicit content as well as a policy on release time for religious instruction (RTRI). Formerly language from HB 445 and SB 293, the Senate added the RTRI amendment to HB 8 and clarified that boards of education may include in their policy a requirement for background checks of employees and volunteers of RTRI sponsors as well as their own definition of core curriculum. Boards of education and the sponsoring RTRI entity are required to collaborate on when programming is offered during the school day. The law will take effect on April 8, 2025.
- HB 206 - Sponsored by Reps. Gary Click (R-Vickery) and Monica Robb Blasdel (R-Columbiana), this bill will make changes regarding the expulsion of a student from a public school for actions that endanger the health and safety of other students or school employees. In addition to the changes to expulsion procedures, the Senate amended the bill to include 2024-2025 school year exemptions for community school closures, new protocols for schools’ storage of seizure medications, and an increase in funding for school choice program administration by $4,140,000 in FY 2025. The law will take effect on April 8, 2025.
Rules Activity
The Department of Education and Workforce and the State Board of Education do not have any rules open for public comment at this time.
OSBA OFCC Workgroup
OSBA would like to collect member feedback on your district’s experiences with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission’s (OFCC) K-12 building programs. We want to hear about your experiences, understand what has worked for your districts and collect your ideas on improvements to the OFCC process that could be taken to the Ohio General Assembly. If you are interested in participating in this workgroup, please sign up using the form linked here.