In the April OSBA Journal, the ‘According to Law’ article discussed nepotism restrictions. The article’s focus was on Ohio Revised Code (RC) Section 2921.42(A)(1), which prohibits any public official from authorizing the employment of a family member or using his or her position to secure authorization of a family member’s employment. However, we’ve received some questions since then on superintendents making employment recommendations for family members.
June 1 is the deadline for providing written notice to a teacher that the board does not intend to renew his or her contract. But did you realize that May 1 is another critical deadline if a board is considering non-renewal for a teacher on a limited or extended limited contract?
Did you know that OSBA’s division of legal services provides fact sheets on many topics relevant to public school districts in Ohio? These quick references provide answers to some of the more frequently asked questions the division receives. In the past year, the division has updated several fact sheets and other publications. Are you using the most recent version? Here are the fact sheets that have been updated in the past year:
Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court answered a question that it had deferred 35 years ago in its seminal opinion on education for children with disabilities—Board of Edn. of Hendrick Hudson Central School Dist. v. Rowley.
Ohio’s Open Meetings Act was enacted in 1975 as Ohio Revised Code Section (RC) 121.22. It, together with the Public Records Act (RC 149.43), is commonly referred to as “the Sunshine law.”
The Open Meetings Act’s basic purpose is to require public bodies, including boards of education to:
On Wednesday, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a decision in State ex rel. Delaware Joint Vocational School Dist. Bd. of Edn. v. Testa, Slip Opinion No. 2017-Ohio-796. The case, discussed in a Jan. 27 Legal Ledger post, involves a Renewal Levy passed in November 2015 by the Delaware Area Career Center (DACC).
On February 22, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice withdrew their previous joint guidance that provided information for schools on the departments’ interpretation of the rights of and protections for transgender students under Title IX.
Earlier today, a unanimous United States Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools. The Court overturned the lower courts’ decisions and remanded the case to the appeals court to determine whether the plaintiffs’ suit is about a denial of a FAPE rather than discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
The Ohio Joint Study Committee on Drug Use Prevention Education was created last August by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, House Speaker Clifford Rosenberger and former Senate President Keith Faber with the goal of studying drug use prevention education in Ohio schools.
Governor Kasich’s biennial budget for FY 2018-19 was introduced on Wednesday as House Bill 49. The full text—all 3512 pages of it—is available here.
There has already been a lot of discussion about the provisions in the bill that are of interest to school districts and educational service centers. But for those who would like to see the specific proposed language on some key topics, here are the line numbers in the current bill:
