February 2025

From the Governor’s Desk 

Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled his executive budget proposal on Feb. 3, declaring his final investment priorities as a term-limited governor. Of particular interest to education advocates, the executive budget proposal:  

• Funds the continued phase in of years five and six of the Fair School Funding (FSF) formula. 
• Reduces the FSF formula guarantees to 95% in FY26 and 90% in FY27. 
• Continues state investments in school choice programs.  
• Dedicates $10 million over the biennium to the Ohio Principal Apprenticeship Program established in Senate Bill (SB) 168 of the 135^th General Assembly.
• Earmarks $12 million in lottery funds for Science of Reading literacy coaches and requires schools with low rates of proficient readers to focus more funding on literacy supports. 
• Invests $30 million over the biennium to create a new school bus safety grant program based on the recommendations of the Governor’s Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group, providing $4 million to increase the annual bus driver training requirement from four to six hours and widening access to advanced driver training. 
• Invests $7 million in each fiscal year in competitive grants to support career planning and workforce readiness initiatives for K-12 students. 
• Increases the Community School Facilities per pupil amount from $1,000 to $1,500. 
• Creates the Driver Training in Schools Grant Program at the Department of Public Safety, funded by non-medical marijuana sales tax revenue, for school districts to fund driver’s education at their high schools.
• Continues the administration's work on school-based health, expanding the number of school-based health centers in high-need counties and providing resources and technical support to these health centers across the state, 
• Invests $50 million over the biennium to create a new vision services program, OhioSEE, which would ensure that K-third students who fail vision screenings receive comprehensive eye exams and glasses, if needed.  

A comprehensive list of proposed investments in the Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) can be found on pages 265-275 of the governor’s “Blue Book”. The governor’s office also released an Executive Budget Fact Sheet on Ohio’s Children, which reiterates education related priorities. 

In the General Assembly

The Ohio House compiled Gov. DeWine’s budget proposal into HB 96, the official legislative vessel for the FY26-27 state operating budget. Hearings and public testimony on the education related provisions of the bill began on Feb. 26 in the House Education Committee. Such hearings will continue for a few more weeks, as the bill is heard and amended in the House Finance Committee. Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville), the chairman of the Finance Committee, has stated he plans to have HB 96 voted out of the House by April 9. 

OSBA, BASA and OASBO hosted a webinar on Feb. 24 reviewing the policy and funding proposals within HB 96. A recording of that webinar can be found in the OSBA LMS. 

The Office of Budget Management and Legislative Services Commission releases district-by-district simulations of each iteration of the budget bill, showcasing the potential impact on K-12 education. Those simulations can be seen here. The Ohio Education Policy Institute’s Dr. Howard Fleeter analyzed HB 96’s impact on Ohio’s schools, his findings can be seen here. We encourage you to review how HB 96 will impact your district and set up a meeting with your representative to share your local story. 

Recently Introduced Legislation 

• HB 30 – Would phase down the state income tax to a flat rate of 2.75% over two years.  
• HB 40 – Would increase the enhanced homestead exemption for certain disabled veterans. 
• HB 42 – Would require certain agencies, including schools, to report data concerning the citizenship or immigration status of persons with whom they come into contact.  
• HB 43 – Would waive required minimum instructional hours for Ashtabula Lakeside High School in light of weather damage that made their school building unusable for a significant time period.  
• HB 57 – Would require all types of school districts to obtain and maintain a supply of an overdose reversal drug for use in an emergency. It would also require the district's superintendent to adopt and implement a policy regarding the supply's maintenance and the drug's use at each school operated by the district. 
• HB 61 – Would modify the amount of the homestead exemption and owner-occupancy property tax credit. 
• HB 62 – Makes changes to the College Credit Plus program, including requiring notice to school districts when a student drops a college course, transitioning to open-source textbooks, and lowering the cost of certain online CCP courses. 
• HB 77 – Would require the Department of Health to develop type 1 diabetes informational materials for parents and guardians of elementary school students.  
• HB 79 – Would increase the penalties for assault if the victim were acting as a sports official or the assault is committed in retaliation for the victim's actions as a sports official. 
• HB 88 – Would require public schools to incorporate instruction on fentanyl awareness and abuse prevention for grades K-12 and require boards of education to designate one week of the school year as "fentanyl poisoning awareness week".  
• HB 89 – Would authorize a temporary property tax reduction to eligible properties in tax year 2024 by the difference in taxes owed in 2022. 
• HB 96 - This bill is the House’s version of the FY26-27 state operating budget.  
• HB 97 – Would require public schools to provide free meals to students regardless of their ability to pay.  
• HB 98 – Would establish the Community Connectors Workforce Program to support connecting students to jobs, internships, and career professionals in their communities and appropriates $8 million in state lottery funds to the program.  
• HB 103 – Would increase the homestead exemption amount from $25,000 to $50,000 and the income limit from $30,000 to $45,000.  
• HB 106 – The House version of Alyssa’s Law would allocate $25 million to a pilot grant program at ODEW for public and chartered nonpublic schools to purchase panic alert systems or contract for artificial intelligence firearm detection software. 
• HB 113 – Would modify the law regarding annexation and financial disclosure forms and require school district approval of residential community reinvestment area property tax exemptions. 
• HB 114 - Would alter age requirements for kindergarten admission, expanding them to include 6 year-olds who have not completed first grade.
• HB 117 – Would require the Pledge of Allegiance in schools.  
• HB 119 – Would enact the Graduation Readiness and Development (GRAD) Act regarding exit orientation programs at public high schools and to designate September as "Workforce Development Month".  
• HB 124 –Would modify the process for property tax sales-assessment ratio studies.  
• HB 125 – Would permit excused absences from school to participate in 4-H and FFA programs. 
• HB 127 – Would permit schools to withhold directory information and to remove directory information from the public record definition. 
• HB 129 – Would limit the ability of school districts to reallocate unvoted property tax millage and include certain property and school district income taxes in the calculation of a school district's effective millage floor.
• SB 66 – Would include emergency levies, substitute levies, all inside millage and school district income taxes in the calculation of a school district's effective millage floor. 
• SB 68 – Would establish a Nonchartered Educational Savings Program at ODEW and allocate $51 million to the program.  
• SB 81 – Would authorize a property tax freeze for certain owner-occupied homes, including for senior individuals who are over 65 years old and senior owners of manufactured homes. 
• SB 92 – Would authorize a total property tax exemption for the homesteads of totally disabled veterans and their surviving spouses.  
• SB 93 - Declares the General Assembly's intent to establish a new school financing system that provides a statewide per-pupil funding payment to public and chartered nonpublic schools based on a single statewide property tax and increased state sales tax. 
• Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 4 – This resolution proposes a constitutional ballot initiative in the November 2026 election to enact Section 12 of Article VIII. This section of the Ohio Constitution would conditionally authorize the issuance of state obligations to refund pending school district obligations, to conditionally waive the requirement that schools levy property taxes to pay debt charges on their obligations, and to conditionally authorize a treasury fund that is restricted exclusively to educational purposes. 
• SB 103 - Would allow for alternative rate plans for natural gas companies to serve large load customers and make changes to the process of valuating natural gas company property. 
• SB 105 – The Senate’s version of Alyssa's Law would require public and chartered nonpublic schools to implement a wearable panic alert system, appropriating $25 million to support the purchase of such alarm systems.  
• SB 107 – Would require state and school district board members to appear on the ballot with a party designation. 
• SB 109 – Would reimburse public and nonpublic charter schools to provide breakfast and lunch at no cost to students, and appropriate $300 million to offset costs.  
• SB 113 – Would prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion in public schools. 
• SB 116 – Would reduce the tangible personal property tax assessment rate for pipeline companies. 
• SB 127 – Would alter the closure requirements for poor-performing public schools. 

2025 State Legislative Conference

Registration is now open for the 2025 State Legislative Conference. Jointly sponsored by OSBA, BASA, and OASBO, this event will be held on Tuesday, March 18 at the Athletic Club of Columbus from 8 am – 1 pm, with a legislative luncheon served at noon. Join us for a day of legislative panels on key education issues and the state budget, then meet with your Representative and Senator to share your local story. Click this link to register.  

Legislative Liaison Network Meeting

Click here to register for the Legislative Liaison Network’s (LLN) monthly meetings. This optional, drop-in meeting serves as a regular touch base for LLN members on the last Monday of each month at noon. We encourage you to pop in with your lunch to ask questions about recent legislative happenings and network with fellow liaison board members from across the state! 

We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on March 31 at noon.