Paving and competitive bidding

This time of year, the legal division always receives an increase in questions about whether paving projects must be competitively bid.

BWC rebate checks

For the third time in four years, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is returning more than $1 billion dollars to Ohio’s private and public employers. This is due to an improving safety climate, good fiscal management and better than expected investment returns that have put the fund in a net position of more than $9 billion.

School levy season

It’s summer time, with barbecues, swimming pools and baseball in full swing. But even though we are enjoying all the things that come with summer, your district should be thinking about November if you’re planning to have a levy on the ballot. Levy deadlines are coming soon, so you need to start planning now. 

Here are some upcoming deadlines to keep in mind: 

Competitive bids for emergency conservation measures

Recently, we’ve received questions about whether a school district is required to seek bids for purchasing or installing energy conservation measures on installment payment or shared-savings contracts. Pursuant to RC 3313.372 and RC 3313.373, the short answer is no, school boards of education are not required to seek competitive bids.

The laws stipulate that a:

ODE posts new draft sections of Ohio’s ESSA plan

Just yesterday, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) posted additional draft sections of Ohio’s federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) template. Ohio released its original draft plan in Feb. 2017 after soliciting stakeholder feedback. In March, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) released a revised ESSA plan template, and as a result, Ohio is releasing a revised plan application that meets DOE’s revised template requirements.

PDQ August 2017

Note: To print this issue, you may need to choose the “shrink to fit” option in the window.

What you need to know about salary notices

As the end of the school year approaches, one of the more popular questions we receive has to do with the salary notice schools provide to their employees. Legally, RC 3319.12 requires boards of education, by the first day of July, to give each teacher who holds a valid contract for the succeeding school year a “notice” of the salary they are to be paid. A similar notice requirement appears in RC 3319.082 for nonteaching school employees.