by Nicole Piscitani • March 21, 2025
The Ohio General Assembly is working on the FY2026-27 biennial budget, and while the bill will appropriate state funds during the next two years, it will also contain many policy changes. Those policy changes are often House and Senate bills that have already been introduced. While the number of committee hearings a bill has received could indicate the likeliness of it working its way into the budget, some bills may be amended in without any hearings.
The Ohio House is in the process of drafting its version of the budget. As that work takes place, the House Education Committee is also reviewing education-related bills. A few bills to watch over the next few weeks are detailed below.
House Bill (HB) 62
The bill is sponsored by Reps. Justin Pizzulli (R-Scioto County) and Adam C. Bird (R-New Richmond) and would make changes to the College Credit Plus (CCP) Program. Changes were made to the CCP Program during the last General Assembly, and this bill continues the discussion on many policy items that didn’t make it into the final version. HB 62 includes the following changes:
- Requires that each public and participating private college endeavor to use open-source materials, instead of purchase-only textbooks, in courses that CCP students are enrolled.
- Requires that a college pay the textbook costs for CCP students if it uses purchase-only textbooks in a course for which open-source materials are available.
- Requires that the college and the CCP student’s secondary school each pay 50% of textbook costs if the institution uses purchase-only textbooks in a course for which no open-source materials are available.
- Modifies the default state payment structure for a public or nonpublic school student taking a CCP course through a public or private college. If a student is taking a course on the college’s campus and the student’s school offers the same course taught by a high school teacher who has earned the required credential to teach the course, the state must instead pay the default floor amount to the college at which the student is taking the course. For a student enrolled in a CCP course delivered online by a public or private college, the bill requires that the state instead pay the college the lesser of 50% of the default ceiling amount or the college’s standard rate.
- Reduces the permitted maximum sum of (1) the state payment for and (2) the amount charged to a public school student taking an online course through a private college with which the student’s school has entered an alternative payment agreement.
- Requires that each public and private college participating in CCP provide notice to a student’s school if the student withdrawals from a CCP course offered by the college.
HB 114
The bill, sponsored by Reps. Bird and Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta), would alter age requirements for kindergarten admission, expanding them to include 6-year-olds who have not completed first grade. The bill would make the following changes:
- Requires that public schools admit to kindergarten any child who will be 5 years old or, if the child has not completed first grade, 6 years old, by the first day of instruction of the school year of admittance.
- Eliminates the referral and evaluation process by a which a public school may admit to kindergarten a 4-year-old who will turn 5 by Jan. 1 of the requested school year of admittance.
- Eliminates the law that permits a child who will not be 5 by Jan. 1 of the requested school year of admittance to be admitted to kindergarten early under a school district’s student acceleration policy.
HB 117
The bill, sponsored by Reps. Tracy M. Richardson (R-Marysville) and Sean P. Brennan (D-Parma), would require that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited in schools daily. Current law requires a school district to have a policy that is publicly accessible, but this bill would require that the policy include daily recitation. The bill also would encourage schools and teachers to develop and implement lessons related to the American flag and Pledge of Allegiance.
HB 119
This bill is sponsored by Reps. Josh Williams (R- Sylvania Twp.) and Nick Santucci (R-Niles). It would enact the Graduation Readiness and Development (GRAD) Act, regarding exit orientation programs at public high schools. The bill outlines the information required to be included in the programs, such as financial resources, military enlistment, workforce-related information and voter registration. The bill also directs public schools on the timing of when the orientation programs need to be held.
HB 145
The bill, sponsored by Bird, would increase the minimum number of school hours by 27 hours for part-time kindergarten and 53 hours for all-day kindergarten through 12th grade.
Next steps
Currently, House leadership and the House Finance Committee chair are reviewing approximately 3,000 amendments, each of which was sponsored by one of the 99 state representatives. A substitute bill is expected to be introduced April 1. The House Finance Committee will then accept additional amendments in the form of an omnibus amendment that will likely be introduced in committee on April 8. HB 96, the budget bill, will likely pass out of committee on April 8 with a floor vote scheduled to occur on April 9.