Attorney General

One of the initiatives implemented by the Ohio General Assembly in the last term was the funding of school safety training grants. The funding is awarded to public and private schools by the Office of the Attorney General of Ohio (OhioAGO), in consultation with the Director of Education and Workforce and the Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services. According to House Bill 33, the funds are available to make grants to schools and law enforcement agencies to support:

On April 16, the Ohio Attorney General (AG) released 2019 Ohio Atty.Gen.Ops. No.

In January, the ESC of Lake Erie West (ESC), which was the sponsor of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), voted to suspend the operation of the community (charter) school. ECOT suspended operations and closed shortly afterward.

On July 2, the Ohio Attorney General’s office (AG) released Opinion No. 2018-016, responding to the question of whether education costs for a child in custody of a public children services agency and placed in a private residential facility outside the state of Ohio is the responsibility of the board of education of the student’s home school district or of another public entity in Ohio.

On March 27, OSBA participated in the Ohio Attorney General’s meeting Ideas for Our Future: Addressing childhood trauma to create positive outcomes. This was the fifth Attorney General-led meeting addressing the opioid epidemic in Ohio, but the first directly focusing on the epidemic’s impact on children and families.

Earlier today, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine released an updated version of Ohio Sunshine Laws: An Open Government Resource Manual, which is commonly referred to as the “Yellow Book.” The manual includes information about Ohio’s Public Records Act and Open Meetings Act (collectively referred to as the Sunshine Laws) and includes recent updates.

Recently, the Ohio Attorney General’s office (OAG) was asked to provide clarification regarding a district’s tuition obligation for adult students who “support themselves by their own labor.”  Since this phrase is not currently defined by law, the OAG was asked for an opinion on its meaning.  But before we delve too far into the opinion, some additional background information may be in order.

No. In advisory opinion 2011-038 (2011 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 038), the Ohio Attorney General (OAG) concluded that a public body (in this instance the State Board of Education) may not vote in an open meeting by secret ballot. The OAG determined that voting by secret ballot would violate Ohio's open meetings law in much the same way as a violation occurs when public officials whisper or pass documents among themselves during meetings or when a vote would improperly be taken during executive session.